At Any Price
by Katsuko1978
Summary: Several secrets are being kept by those within the Decepticon ranks. When a small faction breaks from the whole, will they be able to find asylum with the Autobots in exchange for what they know? Rating subject to change. 2007 Movieverse/G1 elements.
1. Prologue One

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro

**Note:** For the record, this is a little G1 mixed with 2007-verse. Why yes, I'm having fun playing around with this. And, since I have received a review complaining about how some of the characters are acting, please be aware that some - if not all - of these characters are not acting as their G1 counterparts for reasons that will be explained... eventually.

* * *

The expedition had been undertaken under Megatron's orders. The goal had been to find out all information on the All Spark that might possibly give the Decepticons some idea of where those under the Prime's command had hidden it away. A small team of four had been sent, selected by the Lord High Protector himself, and ordered to share any findings with him immediately.

The four charged with the expedition had, indeed, found something. All but one kept their discovery to themselves, deciding to tell others about it only if Megatron felt it worth following up on; the fourth told two mechs that he felt would be as fascinated by what the team had discovered as he himself was. He also trusted that they would keep it a secret, or at least only share it with other like-minded Cons.

After the team finished the debriefing, the Lord High Protector looked thoughtful, if not a bit shaken by the find. "And you've told no one else?" he asked, something in his optics that didn't seem to bode well for the explorers.

"No, Lord Megatron," the leader of the expedition confirmed; the one who'd spoken with others kept his silence and nodded his agreement. There was something very wrong about how their leader was acting...

"Excellent." Before any of the explorers could speak or move, Megatron had fired upon them. The first three fell quickly, the shots going directly through their spark casings and offlining them instantaneously. The fourth had time to think that he was wise in disclosing the findings to the mechs he'd chosen before his life flickered out as well.

Megatron turned to Shockwave and narrowed his optics. "This information goes no further than this room," he ordered in a growl. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Lord Megatron," the mono-opticed mech agreed. "It is a ridiculous notion, at any rate. No intelligent Cybertronian would believe such a thing."

Unbeknownst to either the Lord High Protector or his Lieutenant, a small life form had been watching the proceedings from a crevice in the wall. As soon as she was able to do so, the tiny femme flitted from the room and rushed to where her caregivers resided just outside the city of Vos. They had wondered over how Megatron would react to the discovery and dispatched one of their most stealthy youngling flyers to watch the proceedings. She knew that they would be distressed, for the mech destroyed had been a dear friend to her primary and secondary caregivers both.

It seemed that the secret would need to be guarded well, and that Megatron could never find out that anyone else knew that which he'd killed four mechs to keep silent.


	2. Prologue Two

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro

**Reminder:** Please be aware that some - if not all - of these characters are not acting as their G1 counterparts for reasons that will be explained... eventually.

* * *

_This isn't good,_ Barricade thought to himself for what had to be the thousandth time since he'd started this particular scouting mission.

In the chaotic aftermath of the Mission City battle, the interceptor had been surprised yet pleased that the first – and only – mech to contact him was Starscream. The message had been clear yet confusing in its own right: _Get to Hoover Dam and retrieve Frenzy before the humans notice that you're there. Meet me at the following coordinates._ The last part had been followed up with a data burst directing him to what amounted to a ghost town a few hundred miles from the dam.

Having spent so long as a soldier (something close to the human approximation of twelve-thousand years) Barricade hadn't hesitated in following the order. He had honestly gone in expecting to be retrieving a body, so he'd been surprised to find that Frenzy was heavily damaged but still online. He hadn't even really needed to use much stealth to retrieve him, simply hiding amidst the law enforcement vehicles already on the scene and partially transforming just long enough to pick up his younger partner before slipping back out the way he'd arrived.

Now, however, he was the only Decepticon currently on the planet (not counting Scorponok, who may or may not still be hiding out in Qatar) and had been charged with keeping track of the self-proclaimed Autobots' actions. Barricade had interpreted that from Starscream-speak to mean _record who arrives, who may be trouble, and who may be valuable to our cause._

This was where the trouble currently lied. So far, Barricade had noted the arrivals of the Twin Terrors (and Starscream would be _thrilled_ about that bit of news, given how much he _loved_ Jet Judo, heavy on the sarcasm), the little fembot that had more attitude than the weapons expert, and the one mech that Barricade had prayed never to cross paths with again given the circumstances of their last meeting. From what he could tell, there were at least two more due to arrive within the month, possibly more.

_No,_ the interceptor grumbled to himself as he silently watched the Chevy Impala cruiser pass through the intersection not two blocks from where he was parked, _this isn't good at all._


	3. Chapter One

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro; Meanstreak © yours truly.

**Reminder:** Please be aware that some - if not all - of these characters are not acting as their G1/movie counterparts for reasons that will be explained... eventually.

* * *

Starscream hadn't exactly expected a warm reception upon returning to the Nemesis, but it wasn't as if he'd been expecting to be thrown into the wall the second he stepped into the council room either. Yet there he was, picking himself up off the floor while keeping a wary optic on the current leader of the Decepticon army.

By right of succession, it should be _he_ in the role of leader; however, when he'd taken the task of leading an advance squadron, Shockwave had stepped into the role Starscream was essentially abandoning. A part of the jetformer had bristled at the idea in the beginning, but the four years he'd spent planet-side had given him the time to step back and take a look at his life.

By the time of the Mission City battle, he had long since decided that the secrets carried by so few of their faction were far more important than who was calling the shots amongst the Decepticons.

Plus, he mused as he stood tall once more to stare into the single optic glaring at him, Shockwave was far more suiting for the role of maniacal dictator that Megatron had cultivated.

"Report," the larger mech commanded, displeasure apparent in his form as Starscream took the time to brush non-existent specks of dust from his armour before turning his attention back to him.

"Megatron is dead," the jetformer said calmly. There was no verbal reaction from any of the other Cybertronians in the room, but he could almost feel the shock and dismay of those who'd been truly loyal to the former leader; two mechs off to one side seemed to thrum silently with relief while the optics of the only fembot in the room seemed to brighten with pleasure at the news.

_So those three are still holding true,_ he thought to himself, smirking mentally when a brief reprimand touched his mind before slipping away again. He should have been more trusting, at least in that small number.

"And the All Spark?" Shockwave asked, his words holding a hint of aggravation with Starscream's brevity thus far. "Were you able to retrieve it?"

"Also destroyed. One of the planet's higher life forms was responsible for both." Shockwave's entire form thrummed with annoyance at the news. "There is nothing for the Decepticon Empire on this rock."

He didn't even see the mech move; one moment he was giving his report and the next there was a powerful hand clamped around his throat, pressing him hard into the wall already dented from his earlier collision with it. Starscream knew that if he remained still, Shockwave would crush his vocalizer and leave him effectively mute. It wouldn't be the first time the mono-opticed _de facto_ leader had done that to one of those under his command.

"Are you actually suggesting," the dictator snarled, "that we leave this world to Prime's forces?"

"There is nothing for us on this rock," Starscream pressed, already noting that his vocalizer was crackling. If the pressure continued for much longer it would take a miracle worker to reverse the damage. "We should return to Cybertron and-"

"And die with our planet?" Shockwave growled and slammed the Air Commander into the wall one final time before releasing him. "True, Prime and his men will shortly outnumber us in this sector, but there are more of us than them. We shall reconvene in one stellar cycle to decide on our next course of action. You are all," he added with a sweeping glare of his single optic, "dismissed until then." With that, the large mech stalked out of the council room, followed by his personal guards. The others trickled out of the room, most ignoring Starscream although the two that had expressed relief paused for a moment to meet his gaze before passing by.

"Starscream," a quiet voice rasped close to a whisper beside him. The jetformer looked over as he climbed back to his feet once more, taking in the form of the femme. She wasn't small or sleek like most other fembots, instead having a bit more bulk to her. It was likely that alone keeping her from being fully disregarded amongst the ranks; scouts, good ones, were not easy to come by, and Meanstreak was definitely good at her task.

"Yes?" Starscream asked, wincing at the sound of his voice. Shockwave really had fragged it up; the whining pitch coming from his vocalizer was annoying even to him.

Meanstreak quirked a brow ridge but didn't comment. "Soundwave requested that I escort you to your quarters," was all she said before turning to head down the hall.

Starscream followed, allowing his sensors to become used to the quiet femme's presence again. There had been a time that she would be telling him everything that had happened in his absence; now, however, she was more likely to hold her glossa. Just another result of Shockwave's favoured method of shutting up those who said something he didn't like; Meanstreak could now only speak in either her quiet rasping whisper or a harsh shout, reserved for the battlefield and emergencies.

It could have been worse than two-volumes-only or a high-pitched whine. Shockwave had rendered one of their number fully mute thousands of years ago.

"I will speak with Thundercracker and Skywarp," the fembot said as they arrived at the door to Starscream's quarters. "Whatever is decided, we shall be ready to follow within the stellar cycle." She gave a brief nod of her head and continued down the corridor.

The jetformer watched until she turned the corner, instinctively reacting to a Cybertronian younger than himself in the manner he'd long ago grown accustomed. Once she'd vanished from sight, he sighed and rested a clawed hand over his cockpit. There was an answering tap, still weak, but reassuring the mech all the same. He keyed in his pass code and stepped into his quarters, locking the door behind him.

_::__You should know better than to antagonize, Star,::_ flitted through his mind, a thread of amusement accompanying it.

"Why must you continue to call me that?" Starscream asked, giving the other mech in the room an annoyed glare. The expression held for only a few seconds before he relaxed marginally and crossed to where the other stood. "How bad has it gotten?" he asked quietly.

Soundwave gave the equivalent of a mental sigh, the only sound from him a huff of air through his intakes. _::You remember how Shockwave was before you left. Multiply that by ten thousand and you may have an approximation.::_

Starscream's expression darkened. "And I noticed that no attempts have yet been made to repair either your vocalizer or Meanstreak's."

_::__Of course. He does not wish to have his orders questioned or for a femme to remind anyone that she is around unless it could save a mech in battle.::_ Soundwave's thought-speech trailed off for a moment. _::What of Frenzy?::_

The jetformer knew what the true question was, and in reply opened his cockpit to allow the small silver mech to crawl out as best he could. Soundwave waited until Frenzy was clinging to the outside of Starscream's armour to reach for the Cassetticon; Frenzy made a tiny sound of greeting before curling up against the metallic blue mech.

_::__Not nearly as bad as I had feared from the state of your thoughts, Star,::_ Soundwave noted, sending a wave of love to the youngling and smiling as it was returned. _::Rumble has been climbing the walls since you arrived on the Nemesis, he has been that worried over his twin.::_

"Lies! All lies!" a voice, pitched at a frequency just below Frenzy's spoke up from an adjoining room. "We just know how Shockwave is, that's all!"

Soundwave's frame shook in a silent laugh as Starscream turned his optics to the ceiling as if it could answer all his questions. "Who did we wrong, to have been given such a willful sparkling?" the jetformer asked no one in particular.

As Rumble began to vehemently deny that he was a sparkling anymore, drawing the attention of his brothers and sister, Soundwave turned his attentions back to Frenzy and began making repairs as best he could while upholding a silent conversation with his bondmate. _::There is little choice, now.::_

_::__Technically, Soundwave, there are two choices. We remain here and risk discovery, or we try to seek asylum.::_

_::__When shall we leave?::_

_::__We can't remain here too long, nor can we be seen leaving. Given how many of us will defect, it won't take Shockwave more than a stellar cycle to notice we're gone.::_

Soundwave silently went over their number – himself, his bonded, their younglings, the fembot scout, and his bonded's trine – and agreed. So many vanishing without a trace would be missed almost immediately.

They would have to act quickly upon arriving on Earth.


	4. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro; Meanstreak © yours truly.

**Reminder:** Please be aware that some - if not all - of these characters are not acting as their G1/movie counterparts for reasons that will be explained... eventually.

* * *

Only half the stellar cycle had passed when Soundwave and Starscream stepped into the hangar bay of the Nemesis. The younglings, knowing that their protoforms weren't suitable for space travel, had opted to make the journey in the way they'd often done as sparklings – three curling up securely in one caregiver or the other's chest compartment; the twins and Laserbeak were currently with Starscream while Ravage, Buzzsaw, and Ratbat were with Soundwave.

Unsurprisingly, Meanstreak and the Seekers were already there. Skywarp was the first to notice their arrival, elbowing his wing mate before greeting them with, "So do we leave quietly or go out with an explosion just large enough to knock out the sensor arrays?"

"He's already placed the bombs," Thundercracker informed dryly, not seeming too surprised by the younger jetformer's actions. "I'm fairly sure he's been hording them for just such an occasion."

**It would be a suitable distraction,** Soundwave noted via internal data link, the only means he had left to communicate with anyone outside the bond he shared with his younglings and mate. **We should hold off on it until we're at least a few hundred yards out, however, just to ensure none of us are caught up in the blast.**

The younger jet seemed to thrum with excitement at the prospect of setting off explosives. "I'll wait until you're all out of range, set them to blow, and 'port out to your coordinates," he said.

Starscream could only shake his head; he had nearly forgotten just how young Skywarp really had been when the war began, and it sometimes showed in his enthusiasm. "Barricade has remained on Earth. He should have a full record of which Autobots are currently on the planet and how much trouble they may cause us," he told them, sending each of his fellow defectors a data burst to explain his use of the unknown term. "I'm not too concerned about Prime; he would be willing to hear us out, but the others may not be so forgiving."

"We can promise information," Meanstreak noted, her rasping voice holding a faint note of hope in it. Her hands reached up to open her chest plate temporarily, revealing her own spark as well as a second that pulsed in a slightly different tempo to her own. "And if they've followed the old traditions for those who have fallen..." she added, voice trailing off into nothing.

**Prime's forces are noble,** Soundwave reassured the femme. **I have no doubts that the body has been taken to the Autobot base of operations to be prepared for burial. We will simply have to arrive before that happens.**

_::__When are we leaving?::_ a soft femme voice 'spoke' up in Soundwave and Starscream's minds; the jetformer lightly tapped at his chest compartment and received three taps in response.

_::__It won't be much longer, Laserbeak,::_ Starscream assured his youngling before turning his full attention on the Decepticons before him. Not for the first time, he smirked at the thought that only those in the hangar at this moment and the one watching the Autobots planet-side were the ones truly deserving of that name; after all, they had deceived their own faction for thousands of years and would continue to do so right up until the moment they left the Nemesis for the final time.

"Decepticons," he said, "fall out. Warp, you know what to do."

* * *

"I don't like it."

Ironhide looked away from the target he'd been practicing on to turn his attention to the mech standing behind him. For the past three days, Prowl had been saying the same thing, and no one had asked him exactly what he meant just yet.

However, Ironhide's curiosity was starting to get the better of him. Allowing his cannons for meld back into his armour, he asked the question no one else had dared to voice: "What don't you like?" From a few hundred yards off, he noticed the twin Lamborghinis stop their own target practice to listen in.

Prowl scowled, doorwings dropping slightly as air rushed through his vents. "The fact that Prime is sending out that message on an unsecured frequency," the second-in-command stated, annoyance clear in his voice. "I could understand if it was on all – what is it the humans call us? – Autobot frequencies, but as it is any Decepticon _not_ aware of the recent happenings on this planet will be able to find us without any trouble."

"Uh, Prowl?" Sideswipe remarked from where he was still listening in. "I hate to be the one to point this out, but if the Decepticreeps _were _planning to ambush us, wouldn't they have done it by now?"

"What you are all forgetting is, with Megatron out of the picture either Starscream or Shockwave will be in charge of the enemies' forces. And while Shockwave is not the most tactical-processored mech around, Starscream is highly intelligent," Prowl pointed out. "It's possible that they are biding their time." He paused before adding, "And I have noted a Decepticon signature reading in the week since my arrival in this area. I can only presume he hasn't attacked because he's under orders not to."

Ironhide frowned. "Now that you mention it, I don't recall seeing Barricade during the Mission City battle," he noted. He managed to pretend not to notice the way the SIC's doorwings tensed for a moment at the name; there had long been a rumour amongst the ranks that Prowl and the Decepticon scout shared some sort of bond, but no one could truly guess as to what type. The Topkick would almost venture to guess that they were somehow related, in a manner similar to Prime and Megatron.

"If it's Barricade then we'll all need to watch our backs," Prowl snapped out. "That mech is the most devious I've ever had the displeasure of knowing."

And yet, even as the Impala stalked off, Ironhide couldn't help but think there was a hint of regret in his friend's words.

* * *

As evening approached, five objects fell from space. One of the forms, upon entering the atmosphere, almost immediately shifted from a meteorite into an F-22 Raptor; two of the others seemed to scan the first before mimicking the same shape. The final two objects continued the descent to the earth even as the first three set off in search of a place to land safely.

One of the odd meteorites landed in an empty lot behind a television station. It unfolded itself into a protoform mech and stood up. He looked around the area, tapping on his chest lightly and relaxing only when three return taps greeted him. Satisfied that the younglings traveling with him were safe, he looked around for a form to mimic.

Stepping carefully around the building (and wondering at how none of the organic life forms living on this planet had come running to see what had happened yet), he spotted a vehicle that seemed suitable for his needs. He scanned it and memorized the shape, locking it into his memory banks before opening his chest compartment to allow the three younglings to leap free. Once they were clear, he transformed into a near-perfect replica of the news van he'd scanned; the only differences were the metallic blue colour he'd opted to keep and in place of the news logo was his Decepticon insignia.

The feline-looking youngling made his way to the back of the original van, gripping at the door with his mouth and pulling it open carefully, scanning the contents of the back and growling softly when he found the perfect form to scan. He transformed experimentally, folding up neatly into a television news camera with his faction insignia on either side. Satisfied with his alt form, Ravage shifted back into his feline form and returned to his caregiver; Soundwave opened his side door to allow the youngling to clamour inside.

Of the remaining two, they opted to slip into the building to search for their alternate forms. The larger of the two flyers was fascinated by the cameras mounted on the walls, careful to keep just out of the lens's line of sight as he examined one from every possible angle. After a thorough inspection he finally scanned it, experimentally taking on its form. Making a soft trill of contentment at successfully mimicking it, Buzzsaw glided back to where his caregiver awaited him.

Ratbat was just behind him, having slipped into one of the offices and discovered that someone had left behind a mobile phone. Being the smallest of the six younglings, still a sparkling when the war had fully began, he found the size of the RAZR² suitable to him. After testing the form, he transformed back to his usual (although now slightly changed) form and returned to his caregiver.

After the last of his three charges was accounted for, Soundwave slid his doors closed and pulled away from the television studio.

Not too far away, the final meteorite unfolded into a slightly smaller form than the other original five had been. She glanced around, making a faint sound of displeasure at finding herself in a field. The sounds of traffic drew her to the nearby freeway, and she crouched down behind some trees to watch the vehicles driving past. Her optics flickered in surprise for a moment when she picked up a familiar, friendly signature, but she opted not to make contact just yet; Starscream had sent out a beacon upon reentry to the scout on Earth, so it wouldn't be long before they would meet again anyway.

Turning her attention back to the passing cars, a sleek black form finally caught her optics. She scanned it immediately, imitating the form flawlessly. In a single display of vanity she exchanged the scanned license plate with one reading MEANGRL, and the running horse on the front spoiler was replaced by her faction insignia. Satisfied, Meanstreak pulled out onto the freeway and gunned her way to the coordinates Starscream had given them all upon entering the atmosphere.

No more than half an hour had passed since their arrival when the Decepticons met at the specified coordinates; the abandoned airport was just large enough for the three F-22s to land but not so big as to draw too much unwanted attention from the nearby inhabitants. The three automobiles arrived within a few minutes of one another, the van preceding the Mustangs with both scout vehicles scanning the area for Autobot signatures. Only once they had pulled around the terminal and out of sight of the road did they transform, Soundwave allowing his three charges to leap free as he did so.

**And how do you call that blending in?** Soundwave remarked once his optics adjusted to the dimmer light.

The three jetformers glanced at one another, Skywarp giving a slight shrug. Not a one of the trine, not even Starscream any longer, had a colour scheme that matched up to any true military jet on the planet. The former Air Commander had for some reason switched out the silver-grey colouring from before with splashes of black, red, and a blue that was a match to Soundwave's; Thundercracker would never really be able to hide in plain sight as he'd opted for a silver and blue theme, the blue being darkest and even that a few shades lighter than his leader sported. Of the trine, only Skywarp _might_ be able to go undetected by the naked eye if he flew at night, the black and purple of his armour nearly blending into the darkness around them.

"I don't," Starscream replied. "We want the Autobots to know that we're here, after all. I think three vibrantly-coloured Raptors will catch their attention faster than anything else we could do right now."

**That makes sense,** Soundwave agreed. **It will allow for them to know that we are sincere in our desire to defect from Shockwave's leadership, while at the same time the three of us can be free to patrol the town and give early warning should our former compatriots arrive planet-side.**

"Do you think they will believe us?" Meanstreak asked, one clawed hand resting over her spark chamber.

Thundercracker heaved a sigh through his intakes. "Even if they don't about some things, the information we have about Decepticon tactics and strategies will be more than enough to get their attention."

"Barricade," Starscream said, turning to the Saleen, "report. How many Autobots are now on Earth?"

"Ten, at last count," Barricade responded. "Those who were already here – Prime, Ironhide, Ratchet, and Bumblebee – and six having arrived during your absence. I don't think you'll really be pleased with whom, though."

"As long as those punk twins aren't amongst them, I'll be happy," one of the jets groused.

The interceptor winced as he began to report the Autobot arrivals at Starscream's nod to continue: "In the past week, I've recorded the arrivals of Wheeljack, Red Alert, Arcee, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker-"

"Primus save us all!" Skywarp yelped; Thundercracker dropped his head into the palm of one hand and heaved a heavy sigh. "TC, are you forgetting how bad those two are? If we get anywhere near the Autobots, they'll play a round of Jet Judo on our tails!" He turned to Starscream and asked, "Do you think we could just, maybe, shoot those two? No one else, just them! I promise, I won't ask to slag anyone else!"

"Skywarp, you are not shooting any Autobots," the tricoloured jet ground out. "Even if they are two of the most annoying amongst Prime's forces, we're seeking amnesty. That won't be considered if our first action is to open fire on those twins."

"Cade said ten Autob-bots," Frenzy pointed out, most of the damage to his systems having been repaired before leaving the Nemesis but a few things still in need of adjustment. "Only g-gave nine."

Barricade sent a glare to his partner, who ignored the look and simply stared back expectantly. "The only other Autobot I've seen this past week is Prowl," he finally snarled.

Rather than receiving any verbal replies, the only response to the final name on the list were understanding looks from the other mechs and a slight nod of understanding from Meanstreak. Of all the Decepticons in their small sub-faction, only the fembot had also had family on the opposite side of the war. After a moment of silence had passed, Soundwave 'spoke' up.

**So there are definitely three Autobots that we should avoid running into without backup: Ironhide, Red Alert, or Prowl. Of the others, we may have a chance of avoiding confrontation. The question now becomes, how do we best draw the Autobots' attention to us without garnering any suspicion?**

It was Skywarp who inadvertently came up with their plan of action: "Would a kidnapping do the trick?"


	5. Chapter Three

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro; Meanstreak © yours truly.

**Reminder:** Please be aware that some - if not all - of these characters are not acting as their G1/movie counterparts for reasons that will be explained... eventually.

* * *

Miles Lancaster wasn't as clueless as most people seemed to believe, so when his best friend called that morning to beg off a planned trip to Lookout Point he knew that there was something Sam wasn't telling him.

First off, he hadn't forgotten the "Satan's Camaro" phone call. Second, he had noticed that the battered 1976 Camaro had somehow been replaced with a 2008 Camaro yet Sam pretended it was the exact same car (and Miles wasn't naïve enough to think it was merely "extensive body work"). Third, it was rather difficult to _not_ notice that said '76/'08 Camaro switched stations and songs at random in what could be pieced together as one side of a conversation.

Add in the weekend the entire Witwicky family went missing, the sudden replacement of Mikaela's moped with a hot pink Buell Firebolt, and Sam's inexplicable friendship with two hackers and a couple of Spec Ops officers, and even an idiot could figure out that there was a major secret being kept.

Still, it sucked to be blown off even if the fate of the world was at stake... or something like that. Couldn't alien forces wait to invade until Monday? At least that might get school canceled for the day.

Miles, luckily, wasn't the sort to let that get him down. Which was how he found himself on the outskirts of Tranquility proper, walking along the side of the road to Lookout Point. He might not be hanging out with his best friend – for the third weekend in a row, if anyone was actually keeping count – but it was still nice to get away from town now and again. Especially since Trent DeMarco had suddenly and inexplicably decided that the best way to deal with being dumped by his former evil jock concubine (not that he'd ever actually called Mikaela that to her face) was to beat the crap out of Sam's best friend on a regular basis.

So it really wasn't his fault that the sound of a horn behind him made Miles startle and automatically begin to look for a place to hide. It took him a moment to register that what he was hearing wasn't a truck horn, and when he finally looked back towards the road he spotted a black Mustang idling close by. The window rolled down and the driver leaned over the passenger's seat, giving him a hopeful smile.

"Excuse me," the girl inside the Mustang said softly, her voice just above a raspy whisper, "I didn't mean to startle you. I'm trying to find something called Lookout Point? A... friend mentioned it to me, but didn't tell me just how to find it."

There was something... a little "off" about the situation. For one thing, if the girl's intent had been to ask for directions, why hadn't she done so back in town rather than hope to find someone along the sparsely-populated roadside? And Miles had seen enough movies to know that no good ever came from either picking up or talking to strangers.

Even so, she _had_ asked him politely, and from the way she was speaking it was possible that she'd merely been too shy to ask for help any sooner. He'd been told more than a few times that he looked "safe," whatever that meant.

"Yeah, I know where it is," he settled on saying, offering a slight grin when the driver's smile widened a bit. "I was, um, actually heading that way myself."

"Well, why don't I give you a lift instead of you just telling me?" the girl replied, tilting her head slightly. The light caught on her mirrored sunglasses, making it difficult to see her eyes, but the rest of her expression was open. From what Miles could tell, the offer was genuine.

There are moments in everyone's lives when they make a decision that will change their world for better or for worse. Until the moment arrives, no one can really say what the best choice will be. If Miles had been asked before today what decision he'd make, if it meant changing his entire view of reality, he probably would have said he'd be happier living in the dark.

And although he didn't know that he was soon to see his entire world in a whole new light, Miles Lancaster hesitated only for a moment before getting into the car.

* * *

"So, the big emergency, the reason I had to blow off Miles for another weekend, was the possibility that there are a couple more Decepticons on Earth?" Sam found himself asking incredulously even as a part of him was amazed that he was mouthing off to _Prowl_ of all mechs. If the looks he was getting from the Twins, Mikaela, Bumblebee, and Arcee were any indication, he wasn't the only one in awe of his chutzpah.

"Not 'a couple' Decepticons," Prowl reiterated, reminding himself that humans were still a young race and that their younglings could be more closely likened to sparklings. "I picked up a dozen signatures last night on the long-range scanners, but when I went to investigate this morning I lost the signals. I find it difficult to believe twelve Decepticons could vanish without a trace in under a microsecond."

Red Alert frowned. "Did the signatures fade out or vanish abruptly? I'd believe that deactivation would cause those signatures to fade gradually, but if it was abrupt – and I don't say this lightly – I'd be inclined to think that Soundwave was one of the Cons you picked up on the scanners. As communications expert for the Decepticons, it would be a relatively simple task for him to mask their signatures."

"And where Soundwave goes, those fragging Cassetticons of his go," Ironhide added, not pleased with the possibility. While Frenzy was missing and presumed deactivated, there were still another five of his fellow Cassetticons active. "That, plus Barricade, would account for seven Cons."

"Okay, twelve Decepticons is a bad thing," Sam noted, "I get that. But what I don't get is, don't you have some way to get around any kind of scrambling devices?"

"Normally," Wheeljack offered, "but Soundwave's method isn't exactly the run-of-the-mill scrambler. He's something like the equivalent of a human with telepathic abilities; he can pretty much 'read' the signals in the airwaves and either block or enhance those he chooses."

"Optimus," Bumblebee said, glancing at the Autobot commander. "What are the chances that Starscream is leading this team?"

Optimus sighed heavily, shaking his head. "Fairly high. I have my doubts that he would return without at least part of his air squadron with him, as well."

The Twins exchanged matching evil grins. "So, does this mean we can play with the Seekers?" Sideswipe asked, looking thrilled at the prospect. Sunstreaker was slightly more reserved, but his optics were glimmering with wicked intent.

Ratchet opened his mouth to expressly forbid either of the Lamborghinis from doing any such thing when his audio receivers picked up the sound of approaching engines. He couldn't detect any other readings; chances were good that it was no more than a couple of humans out for a weekend drive. "Vehicles approaching," he warned before instinctively shifting back into his modified Hummer ambulance mode.

Within a few seconds the two teenagers were surrounded by an odd assortment of vehicles: Ratchet's ambulance, Prime's rig, Bumblebee's Camaro, Ironhide's Topkick, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's matching Lamborghini Gallardos, Wheeljack's Explorer, Red Alert's Eclipse, Prowl's Impala cruiser, and Arcee's Firebolt. Sam and Mikaela exchanged uneasy glances for a moment before all the Autobots save Bumblebee and Arcee activated their holographic drivers so as to make the scene look a bit less suspicious.

A moment later, two vehicles rolled into sight around the bend and came to a halt not too far off. The first of the two was odd in its own right, a television news van in a deep metallic blue. The small satellite receiver on the top of it turned slightly towards the lookout, almost seeming to act on its own, but other than that it appeared to be nothing to be concerned over. The second vehicle was a black Mustang, probably a 2007 model, which pulled to a stop next to the van. Both had tinted windows, but Sam could just about make out a vaguely familiar figure in the driver's seat of the van as well as a female driver and male passenger in the car.

"Maybe we should go talk to them," Mikaela suggested quietly. "Find out if they're lost or something."

* * *

"What the hell?" Miles muttered softly as the lookout came into view, a small frown crossing his lips. The last thing he would have expected, after speaking to Sam that morning, was to stumble across him in the very place they'd been planning to go for the day. The driver, who had finally introduced herself as 'Em,' turned to give him a searching look.

"Miles?" she asked, the barest hint of confusion in her tone. This was odd, considering that when a news van had pulled out in front of her seemingly from thin air and proceeded to head the exact same direction as them she hadn't even batted an eyelash. "What is the matter?"

"Nothing. Just... that's my friend, but he said something important came up and he couldn't meet me here today," Miles finally said after a moment. To his surprise, Em's mouth dropped open slightly and she swore. At least, he assumed _fragging pit-spawned glitch_ was swearing.

"So your friend has told you nothing of what happened in Mission City or before?"

"No. Wait, _what_ about Mission City?"

Em didn't answer, her expression closing off. When she spoke again, her voice seemed to be coming not from her lips but from the speakers: "Fasten your safety belt and sit quietly, Miles Lancaster. There is much you do not know, but we will bring you up to date." As she finished speaking, her entire form seemed to flicker and the windows lost their dark tinting. "Soundwave, parameters have changed. I'm heading back to base. Now."

* * *

Sam was just about to agree with his girlfriend when he noticed something odd about the Mustang. The tinted windows, which had made it somewhat difficult to make out exactly who was in the car, went from smoky black to clear in less than a second. He had three seconds to register that the passenger was Miles before the woman driving blinked out of existence and the engine roared to life. At the same time, the van's satellite receiver swiveled away.

Behind the teenagers, Prowl cursed. "Frag it! Prime, those are Decepticons!"

As if both vehicles had been merely waiting for those words, the Mustang quickly backed up just enough to turn and tore off back towards Tranquility; the van let out a high-pitched feedback loop before retreating as well. Before it vanished from sight, the Autobots all received an unencrypted data burst: _**The abandoned airfield. South side of Tranquility. 20:00 hours. Come unarmed. The human will not be harmed.**_

"Oh, frag _that_," Sunstreaker muttered, ignoring the message and gunning his engine. Before any of the others could tell him otherwise, the yellow Lamborghini took off in pursuit of the Mustang; he sensed more than saw Sideswipe follow his lead. _::Hey, Sides, want to see which of us catches Blackie first?::_

_::__Bet you three security shifts I catch him first,::_ Sideswipe replied instantly.

_::__Oh, you're on.::_ Sunstreaker grinned to himself, positive that he'd be the one to get to the Con first.

"Those idiots," Prowl groused to no one in particular as he shifted back to mech form. "What part of _maintain a low profile_ are they having trouble with? First it's those alt modes, now this. What's next?"

"At any rate, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker have the best chance of catching the Decepticons before they can go to ground again," Optimus said. "Still, we should still go to the designated coordinates to find out what their intentions are. It's unlike Decepticons to arrange a meeting with their opponents."

Red Alert frowned to himself, optics locked in the direction the two Decepticons and the Twins had vanished. "I swear I know that Con from someplace," he muttered almost to himself. "I'm sure of it. But it couldn't be _that_ scout."

"Red?" The Eclipse started slightly and turned towards Ironhide. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I think I might have."

Further down the road, headed away from the lookout, Meanstreak was still grumbling curses in a mixture of Cybertronian and English, throwing in a few phrases known only to Decepticons. Either way, Miles could clearly pick up on the fact that his host/kidnapper/driver was more than a little aggravated.

"Uh, Em?" he said cautiously as he glanced in the side mirror. "I hate to interrupt a girl when she's got a full rant going, but I think we have company."

"Oh, Unicron throw me to the pit," the Mustang groaned as she checked her sensors. "Meanstreak to Base. Gentlemechs, I've got the Twin Terrors on my back. Could a lady trouble you for an assist?"

_"Skywarp to Meanstreak,"_ came a male voice over the speakers. _"I've got you covered. Let's see how they like Jet Judo reversed onto them."_

_"Thundercracker to Meanstreak. I'll make sure he doesn't trash them thoroughly,"_ a second voice came over with what sounded like a long-suffering sigh.

"Thank you, gentlemechs. Meanstreak out." The Mustang's engine revved for a moment, a pleased note to it. "Now then. Hold on tight and keep your belt fastened, Miles. I've never hit top speed with a passenger before."

"Then stop talking about it and just do it," Miles said, feeling a grin stretch across his face. No matter how odd this day was becoming, he was having a blast.

* * *

"What the pit?!" Sideswipe yelped as the Mustang they'd been so close to catching suddenly put on an extra burst of speed and pulled away from them. "That son of a--! He's _got_ to be doing at least a hundred-fifty, Sunny!"

Sunstreaker cursed. "Then we'll just have to go faster ourselves," he remarked. Before he could make a move, however, a sudden Decepticon signature flared into existence close by and he saw Skywarp – in mech form, no less – fade into sight just above Sideswipe. He had just enough time to send ::_Sides, twelve o'clock!_:: before the Seeker dropped on top of the red Lamborghini.

"Sorry, boys," Skywarp said with a wicked grin, "but Meanstreak doesn't have time to waste with you at the moment." With that, he casually flipped Sideswipe towards the shrubbery along the side of the road, taking care to force the Lamborghini onto his roof.

_::__I. Am going to slag that son of a glitch!::_ Sideswipe complained loudly over his link with his twin. _::Just as soon as I get out of this.::_

_::__I'll help you as soon as I can,::_ Sunstreaker assured his brother; for the moment he was too busy avoiding the second Seeker to appear. No sooner had Skywarp reached for Sideswipe but Thundercracker made his presence known. While normally having a couple of the jetformers around to 'play' with was a good thing, having them appear so unexpectedly threw off the yellow Lamborghini's stride.

_Hell with it,_ he thought to himself, breaking off pursuit of the rapidly-disappearing Mustang and transforming back into his robot mode. "You got a problem, _TC?_" he taunted the blue and silver mech... who, oddly enough, stopped his assault when Sunstreaker transformed.

"I've left my problems back on Mars," the Raptor said coolly, glancing over at his purple comrade and heaving a sigh. "Slag it, Warp, quit throwing sticks at the Autobot!"

"But TC, this is revenge for all those rounds of Jet Judo!"

"Skywarp..."

The younger jetformer scowled but dropped his arsenal. "Fine. But this is going to come back to bite us in the afts, I hope you know."

"Whatever. Meanstreak just commed, she's nearly back to base with our guest," Thundercracker replied, ignoring his comrade's complaints. "Time to head back ourselves."

Skywarp nodded. "One 'port home, coming up. Later, Bots," he added with a cheery wave as he sidled up to the other Seeker. A moment later they were gone, signatures snapping out of existence.

Sunstreaker blinked to himself, processing Thundercracker's words. "She? That was a _fembot?_"

_::__Slag it, Sunny, help me out here!::_

The yellow Lamborghini shook himself out of his thoughts and headed back down the road. Sideswipe wasn't going to be happy until he was back on his wheels-or-feet again.


	6. Chapter Four

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro; Meanstreak © yours truly.

**Reminder:** Please be aware that some - if not all - of these characters are not acting as their G1/movie counterparts for reasons that will be explained... eventually.

* * *

_::You really should have drilled a bit of self-restraint into Skywarp at some point, Star.::_

Starscream smirked slightly to himself, keeping a careful watch over his five fully functional younglings who were enjoying the opportunity to be active in the daylight hours. _::Keeping Warp from crossing the line is Thundercracker's job, my dear Soundwave,::_ he replied; even as he 'spoke,' he continued stroking Frenzy's helm. The youngest of the twins was indeed recovering slowly from his injuries, but to expedite the process they would need a real medic to finish the repairs. It was never easy to keep any of the Cassetticons immobile for more than a few minutes even when they were injured, and only the constant attention from Starscream was keeping the silver youngling still no matter how much he wanted to join in his siblings' games.

Soundwave's chuckle echoed through the flyer's mind. _::And I'm sure he thanks you for that task at every opportunity as well. I'm going to do one more circuit of the area before returning to base just to be certain we weren't followed by anyone else; Meanstreak should be arriving shortly and I've no doubt that your Seekers will be just behind her. Tell the brats to behave themselves,::_ he added on a full frequency, directing it to the Cassetticons as much as to his bondmate.

_::__I always behave!::_ came from Rumble, followed by an indignant snort from Ravage and tittering laughter from the trio of flyers. _::Oh, you can all go frag yourselves.::_

"Rumble," Starscream scolded aloud, ignoring the faint echo of his mate's laughter in the back of his mind. The twins were a handful and tended to do whatever they wanted... at least, until their secondary caregiver said their names in _that_ tone. The black mech shrunk down on his haunches for a moment, blue optics flickering in apology before he skittered over to his twin and settled at Frenzy's side.

The sound of squealing tires drew the jetformer's attention towards the front of their makeshift base; he let out a sound akin to a low growl, calling the four younglings still playing to his side. As much as instinct told him to transform, Starscream was still in his robotic form when Meanstreak and Barricade both came around the corner in their vehicular modes. The Mustangs rolled to a stop only seconds before Skywarp and Thundercracker teleported into view a few hundred feet away. The lighter of the jetformers was still quietly scolding the youngest of the trine, although it didn't seem that Skywarp was paying any attention.

"So where's the human thing?" the purple Seeker asked, brushing past Thundercracker (and earning an exasperated glare) and stopping next to his leader. Rumble muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'idiot' much to his siblings' amusement, but didn't comment further when his caregiver's talons twitched reflexively; that was generally prelude to being picked up by the scruff bar, and it made him feel like an unruly sparkling every time one of his caregivers resorted to the tactic.

Meanstreak swung her passenger side door open. "Don't be afraid, Miles," she said, as warmly as her damaged vocalizer would allow. "They – _we_ can be trusted. Just step away some when you climb out; I have no wish to injure you when I transform."

The teenager wasn't entirely certain what his odd acquaintance meant by that; he'd started out the day thinking it was going to be another boring weekend but somehow had found himself in the middle of a sci-fi movie, complete with giant robots. Still, Em had been pretty forthcoming thus far, and he was definitely curious to find out what, exactly, it was that Sam hadn't told him about the whole Mission City incident. Miles climbed out of the Mustang and took a good dozen steps away from both the cars.

Once they were certain that the human was out of immediate danger, both Barricade and Meanstreak transformed from their vehicular modes. The main thing that Miles noticed different from the three _very_ big robots that had been waiting was these two were proportionally smaller than the others. The police car robot seemed to stand around nineteen, maybe twenty feet in height, and the sharp-looking claws on the ends of his fingers didn't make him look terribly friendly; the Mustang, who he guessed was the real Em, was a bit shorter still, somewhere around seventeen or eighteen feet, with the same nasty-looking claws. There was still a faint hint of a female life form in her build, a narrowing at the waist region mostly, and at the hips two of her tires recessed slightly into her armour. The other two tires rested at the ankle joints. None of the five huge robots had what one might call friendly-looking faces, not even Em with her strange orange eyes, pointed face and a mouth filled with sharp 'fangs.'

Rather than continue to gawk at the robots, Miles said the first thing that popped into his head: "So I'm guessing that news van from the lookout isn't really a news van either, huh?"

He immediately wanted to smack himself in the forehead for saying it, at least until the red-blue-and-black robot made an amused sound before shaking his head.

"Not any more than I'm a military jet or Barricade is a police vehicle," he said, a faint whining tone in his voice that Miles attributed to simply being how the robot spoke. "I apologize for the rather unorthodox method of making our introductions, but I wasn't certain as to how much you'd been told."

The blond blinked, frowning again. "That's twice now today that someone's alluded to me knowing something, and I _know_ that there's something going on, but I have no idea what it might be."

"The pit-spawned little glitch, destroyer of Megatron or not, never mentioned Mission City to Miles," the fembot added, her whispery voice holding more than a hint of contempt. Miles couldn't help but note that the other robots seemed to become a bit annoyed at the news as well, if the odd flickering of their optics was any indication.

"First thing's first, then, and that would be introductions." The same mech who'd spoken previously shifted slightly, not fully rising so as not to tower over the human as well as to remain close to the six smaller robots that Miles could now see next to him. "I am Starscream, the leader of this faction of Decepticons. Your escort is Meanstreak, and I believe she has decided on her own to act as your protector."

"Got _that_ slaggin' right," the femme grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and giving a decisive nod.

Starscream continued with a nod to the other Mustang. "On your immediate left is Barricade, a scout like Meanstreak and the one of our number who has spent the most time planet-side. Behind me are Skywarp and Thundercracker. Skywarp is the one acting like a sparkling."

The purple and black jetformer replied to the introduction by sticking his glossa out at Starscream's back, prompting Thundercracker to smack him across the helm and give him a look that said _act your age, you glitch._ "Sorry," the blue Seeker remarked. "Warp left his sense of self-restraint back on the road from Tranquility after flipping that red twin."

"I recorded the whole thing," Skywarp noted proudly. "I'll send you the file later, Screamer."

Starscream smirked slightly. "I'm sure it's entertaining, especially given how long we've been on the receiving end from those two."

Ravage huffed slightly, shaking his head as he stood and stretched before walking sedately over to Miles. He was careful to be non-threatening, having searched the internet to get an idea of how intimidating the larger felines of this world could be. He stopped a few feet away and sank back on his haunches before giving a brief nod. "I am called Ravage," he said in a faintly purring tone.

Once again, Miles said the first thing that popped into his head: "You're a talking cat."

"Yes, I know," the panther-like mech replied, amused. "Would you prefer I roared instead?"

"Nonono, talking's fine!" Miles was quick to respond, much to Ravage's amusement.

"I only look similar to Earth felines; I'm as much a mech as my caregivers are." The panther nodded towards his siblings still by Starscream's side. "The flyers over there – the two resembling birds of prey – are Laserbeak," the reddish-coloured Cassetticon nodded her head slightly, "and Buzzsaw." This time the blue-shaded Cassette nodded his head as Ravage continued, "The smallest is Ratbat; he's still very young but not as helpless as he may appear."

"At least he babbles less than Big Brother," Rumble remarked flippantly, earning a muffled laugh from Skywarp and a less-than-amused look from his caregiver. Ravage turned his head and, in a very human manner, repeated Skywarp's earlier show of maturity by sticking his glossa out at his younger brother. "Right back at ya, Ravage."

"The one with the defective processor-to-vocalizer filter would be Rumble," Starscream sighed, striking the teenager as every bit the frazzled parent. "The temporarily-quiet one here is Frenzy. He's..." the jetformer trailed off, trying to think of a way to explain the situation.

"He doesn't look too well," Miles noted, feeling oddly worried. He'd only just met these robots, yet for some reason he felt comfortable around them. It was likely due to how courteous Em – er, Meanstreak had been on the trip to the airport; whatever it was, Miles wondered if the silver mech would be all right.

Starscream started to reply before his optics unfocused for a moment and he turned his attention back to the front of their makeshift base. He felt himself smile and sent a tendril of relief and affection to his bonded as Soundwave pulled around the side of the terminal and transformed back into his bipedal form. The other Decepticons, sensing their leader's relief either through familial bond, centuries of being trine mates, or simply being fully encoded to be observant, likewise fell into less-rigid stances.

"Welcome back, Soundwave," Barricade greeted. The taller mech gave a short nod and walked over to join the rest of his faction, reaching out to run a hand over Starscream's wing in greeting. The Decepticons mostly ignored it aside from the twins' grumbling, but Miles took note of the action and decided to ask about it later.

Like Meanstreak and Barricade, the not-really-a-news-van was notably smaller than the jets at close to twenty-three feet in height. The same claws that seemed to be a distinguishing feature the Decepticons had in common were present, and he appeared to be of stockier build than any of the others _including_ the three jets. The one thing that was odd about him to Miles' eye was that _none_ of his face was visible; there seemed to be some sort of deep red visor covering his optics and the lower portion of his face was hidden behind a mask that looked similar to the grill on the front of a car.

That part made a bit of sense, considering that only a moment ago he'd been a van, but the presence of the mask was still confusing.

"Soundwave is our communications expert," Starscream explained, leaning his wing into to caress for a moment. "Unfortunately due to a... disagreement in the main ranks, his vocalizer no longer functions and we don't have the means to repair it."

"How do you talk to each other then?" the blond asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Internal communications array," Thundercracker said. "Although Screamer and Soundwave have a bond and speak through that as well."

Miles considered this, figuring that this bond tied in with the somewhat affectionate touch the van had given the lead jet earlier. Maybe that radio trick Sam's Camaro – which was probably another giant alien robot, unless he was way off base – used would work for Soundwave too. Still, he could bring it up later; right now he wanted other answers.

"You were saying that there were things about Mission City that I should know?" he prompted, hoping that the Decepticons wouldn't be annoyed by his abruptness.

Barricade nodded. "Not just Mission City. It's best to start at the beginning..."

* * *

By the time eight o'clock rolled around, the twins (mainly Sideswipe) were about ready to go to the airfield alone and take on whatever Decepticons they might find there. The only thing keeping them from doing just that was the strict order that they were not to break the terms of the meeting along with the threat of their weapon systems being permanently offlined courtesy of Ratchet. Sam was likewise jittery about the meeting, although that was mostly because he felt like it was his fault that Miles had inadvertently got caught in the middle.

"I should have said something," he remarked for the dozenth time since midday, when the two Decepticons had shown themselves only to vanish almost as quickly.

"What could you have said that didn't sound crazy to someone who doesn't know about all of this?" Mikaela asked finally, troubled over how hard her boyfriend was taking the situation. Granted, she didn't know Miles very well, but he _was_ Sam's best friend. Hell, she hadn't even told her grandmother or recently-paroled father about any of this yet, so it wasn't surprising that Miles was in the dark... until now.

Sam shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe something like, _if you see a car with a demon-face logo anywhere on it, don't get in?_"

"...yeah, that might've worked out."

At the front of the small Autobot procession, Ratchet and Prowl flicked on their lights and sirens; the few other drivers on the highway pulled over to let the Autobots pass. They weren't too far out from the airfield, but still had a few miles to burn before arriving. The emergency vehicles of the group would help to cut the travel time in half.

Unexpectedly the sound of another siren sang out from somewhere behind Red Alert. The security specialist nearly stalled out in shock when the Saleen tore past him, quickly pulling by the rest of the Autobots to slide in just to the left of Ratchet; Barricade was clearly keeping the medic between himself and the other cruiser, probably a wise idea given the snarl Prowl let out when he realized the Decepticon was there.

The Saleen sent a quick data burst to the assembled Autobots: _**There's a side road to the left. Out of human sight and quicker.**_ That said, he pulled to the front and took the turn, not showing any hesitancy or concern when his enemies followed him. Apparently Barricade had been sent to make sure that they arrived in a fashion that didn't alert the humans to their activities as once off the highway he cut his siren in spite of keeping his lights on.

The side route did prove better than the highway; at the speed they were moving, it only took five minutes to reach the airfield. Barricade let out a whoop of his siren, causing the lenses of two wall-mounted cameras on the main terminal to turn their way. After apparently confirming who all had arrived, both detached from the building and transformed into mechanical birds of prey; Laserbeak trilled out a greeting in Cybertronian before joining her brother in pushing open the entry gate.

"Fragging Cassetticons," Ironhide grumbled. "Most annoying manner of drone I've ever seen."

For some reason this prompted a low laugh from the Saleen as he disappeared through the gate, not bothered when the small flyers settled onto his roof. The Autobots went through right after him, Prowl bringing up the rear with Red Alert so as to keep as far from the other cruiser as possible.

It wasn't difficult to spot the rest of the Decepticons; three Seekers disguised as F-22s weren't commonplace outside a military base, especially three Seekers sporting non-regulation paint jobs. The presence of both the news van and Mustang from Lookout Point confirmed that the message had been legitimate. As Barricade reached the group the Mustang's door swing open, allowing Miles to step out and away. Two smaller mechs, one silver and one black, scrambled out behind him as a robotic panther and a bat-like creature climbed out of the van.

As if operating on some unspoken signal, all the Cybertronians transformed into their bipedal forms at once, not a few of the Autobots sending scathing glares at the Decepticons. The black and purple Seeker sneered back at them, but other than that there was no real response from the smaller faction. The Mustang, proving to be a femme as Sunstreaker had claimed, shifted her stance a bit in a manner similar to the protective one Bumblebee and Arcee had each taken by their respective human companions.

"We are here as requested," Optimus spoke first, keeping a close watch on the three jetformers and somewhat surprised to note that none of them had their weapons systems activated. "Although I admit to curiosity since this isn't normal Decepticon protocol."

"Frag protocol," Skywarp snorted; Thundercracker heaved a sigh and gave him a reprimanding glare.

"Although Skywarp's phrasing leaves much to be desired," Starscream added, shaking his head slightly, "it's fairly accurate on our collective opinion of normal Decepticon proceedings."

Ratchet noted the changed quality in the Seeker's voice and narrowed his optics. It hadn't been that long since Mission City, and so far as he'd known Starscream had escaped unscathed. There was no reason the mech should have vocalizer damage to the extent of adding a low mechanical whine to his speaking voice, and the medic in him twitched to check the component.

None of the others seemed to notice his momentary distraction as Sam had taken the opportunity to call out to his friend. "Miles, are you okay?"

The reply wasn't what anyone had expected: "Dude, I am _so_ not talking to you right now." Rumble and Frenzy nearly collapsed in laughter; Soundwave turned his gaze towards them and silently reprimanded them for encouraging the human.

Skywarp blinked and looked at Meanstreak. "Streaky, were we ever _that_ bad?"

"Don't call me Streaky," the Mustang replied (and Ratchet noted that this Con also had some degree of vocalizer damage, old damage from the sound), "and this is mild in comparison to us. We were already younglings when we hooked up with Screamer, if you'll recall, and he handles those terrors fairly well."

Miles glared at the interruption, surprising the Autobots by his casual manner while surrounded by 'evil' robots. "_Anyway_," he said pointedly, "you should have told me, bro. It's not cool when the giant alien robots are the ones to tell a guy that giant alien robots are living on Earth."

"Look, kid," Ironhide drawled, "Decepticons are liars. Whatever they told you—"

"Planet-wide war, what was believed the source of all life jettisoned into space, which landed here, evil overlord crashing in the ice, technology reverse-engineered from him, all-out battle in Mission City three weeks ago," the blond rattled off. "That's the gist of it, so if that's all a lie then it's a damned good one."

Ironhide growled lowly and shot a glare at the Decepticons. Before he had a chance to activate his cannons, Optimus shot him a look before speaking once more: "There has to be some reason that you contacted us aside from pointing out that Sam's friend had a right to know exactly what happened."

"There is," Starscream replied. "Amnesty and asylum, in exchange for Decepticon intel."

* * *

**End Note:** Yeah, I know. Really bad place to end it, but the chapter was starting to get a bit longer than I'd intended; there will be some revelations next chapter, notably on exactly what Meanstreak and Skywarp meant by _when we hooked up with Starscream_ and just what relationship exists where Prowl and Barricade are concerned.


	7. Chapter Five

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro; Meanstreak © yours truly.

**Reminder:** Please be aware that some - if not all - of these characters are not acting as their G1/movie counterparts for reasons that will be explained... eventually.

* * *

"I don't think I heard that right," Prowl said, his glower shifting to a mildly confused glare. "Would you mind repeating that? Because I swear it sounded like you basically said you were defecting."

"You heard correctly," Starscream replied, turning his head slightly to track where Frenzy had gotten to; he'd instructed the injured youngling to keep close to his siblings or Miles at all times during this meeting. Spotting the silver mech practically sitting on the teenager's foot with his twin settled within arm's reach, he relaxed marginally but kept a sensor lock on all his younglings.

The Autobots exchanged confused glances. So far as any of them could recall, never once in the history of the war had even _one_ Decepticon switched sides, let alone a group of this size including two highly-ranked officers. The intel from Starscream and Soundwave alone could possibly turn the tide fully in the Autobots' favour and end it for good. To deny their request wasn't even a real option; there was the strong chance that these twelve – even given the Cassetticons' size disadvantage – would strike off into their own faction and cause trouble for Autobot and Decepticon alike.

That wasn't a possibility Optimus liked to even consider.

"I see no reason to deny your request. However," he added, staving off the protests from his soldiers that were already coming over private comm lines, "I admit to being curious. Why now?"

"It's been a decision a long time in the making," Thundercracker spoke up, glancing at his wing leader. At Starscream's nod he continued, "The timing just hasn't been right until now. Shockwave has taken command of the army; he's awaiting the rest of the fleet on Mars."

Red Alert frowned, mind already calculating updates to their makeshift base's current security protocols. "I hate to be the one asking this, but how many more Decepticons could that amount to?"

"The rest of the Constructicons, the Combaticons, Astrotrain, and that slagging half-clocked excuse for a trine headed by Ramjet," Skywarp rattled off instantly, counting each group off on his fingers as he named them. "No one else responded to the signals sent out by the Nemesis."

"That's at least a dozen in addition to whatever soldiers he's already gathered," Prowl noted with a frown. "There're only eleven of us."

"In addition to intel," Starscream said, "we are willing to assist in battle should the need arise."

"Six former Cons and a pack of drones doesn't exactly even the odds," Sideswipe snapped impatiently. "What the slag are those runts gonna do, gnaw on their ankles?!"

For the first time since the meeting began, one of the Decepticons powered up his weapon systems, although it wasn't the one that Optimus had been concerned about. Metal shifted and a pulse cannon replaced Soundwave's right hand, the barrel leveled on the red Lamborghini twin.

"_I will knock. Your. Punk ass. Down,_" the blue mech said via his radio, pulling the sound bite from an online movie clip. Miles' suggestion of using clips to communicate aloud was both helpful and entertaining; it alleviated the need to hack into the Autobots' comm lines while presenting him with the priceless image of said Bots stunned into absolute silence for a few seconds.

Soundwave was also positive that at least one of his younglings was recording the moment for posterity, and that if it was Ravage he'd likely be including some sort of commentary.

"Oh, _please_, Sounds, do it!" Skywarp crowed from the back of the group. "I'll give you all of my energon rations for the next five stellar cycles!"

"When are you going to grow up?" Thundercracker asked, giving his wing mate an exasperated look.

As the other Seekers were talking, Starscream moved closer to his mate and rested a clawed hand lightly on the cannon arm. _::Wave, stand down,::_ he whispered through their bond, adding a thrum of affection to show that it wasn't an order but a request as equals. _::We'__ve enforced the thought that our younglings were nothing more than what they appear to be for orns. Granted, I'__m almost of the same mind as Warp on letting you shoot him, but we Seekers tend to be a bit biased against red or yellow mechs who have tried to rip our wings off on a regular basis.::_

_::I should blast a hole through him just for that,::_ Soundwave replied with a faint mental snarl. _::I _am_ the one who patches you up afterwards.::_ Even so, the van took a step back and lowered his arm, the cannon shifting back into his hand once again.

Sideswipe let out a sigh of relief knowing that he wasn't going to get shot at today, although he was still wondering what the pit he'd said that set off the supposedly unemotional Decepticon third in command – well, former third in command now, if they really were defecting. Rumour had it that Soundwave was attached to the Cassetticons, but he hadn't realized the mech was _that_ protective.

Ironhide nudged Ratchet and tilted his head slightly towards the two Con officers when the medic looked his way. **Is it just me,** he asked over a private comm link, **or did I just see what I thought I saw?**

**If you think you saw Starscream exhibiting behaviour typical of one half of a bonded pair attempting to calm the other, then you aren'****t the only one who saw it,** Ratchet replied, turning his optics back towards the Decepticons. Now he _really_ wanted to drag the whole lot of them into his med bay and not let any of them leave until he'd done a full diagnostic on every last one of them, Cassetticons included. Not only did he have three potential cases of vocalizer damage (as he could still clearly recall Bumblebee using his radio and sound bites until recently to communicate, a practice Soundwave had apparently adopted), but from where he stood he could see that Frenzy was definitely looking the worse for wear.

Chances were high that not one of the defecting soldiers had had proper medical attention in a very long time, and Ratchet would be lax in his role as CMO to allow anyone seeking asylum to possibly wander about with old injuries or potential viruses in their systems.

**That'****s what I thought I saw,** Ironhide sighed. And unless he missed his guess, Soundwave's actions were less those of someone acting out of insult towards his drones and more like a caregiver taking action against a threat to his younglings. But... most younglings had been upgraded quickly to their adult protoforms at the start of the war, and those few that weren't had been sent to the orphanages of Vos, along with all remaining sparklings in an attempt to keep them safe. It had been the last real neutral city, and when Megatron had razed its spires to the ground he had killed the final generation of Cybertron as well.

And yet, the weapons expert found himself wondering if at least one bonded pair – a Decepticon pair, something that he'd never thought could even _exist_ in Megatron's ranks – had found the most deviously ingenious way ever to save their own younglings.

* * *

Returning to the Autobots' makeshift base was, to put it mildly, an undertaking. It was mutually agreed by all parties that having the Seekers fly there would be fairly obvious to the human government, who wouldn't be informed about the defectors until either Optimus contacted their government liaison or Ironhide told Lennox; Skywarp's suggestion that he teleport the trio to the base was initially given a big _no chance in the pit_ by Red Alert, due to the fact that his security grid was formatted to attack all Decepticon energy signatures.

It was finally decided (after a round of caregiver-insulting on the parts of the Lamborghini twins and Skywarp, with a flustered Thundercracker and a far-too-amused Wheeljack playing mediator) that the teleporter would take Ratchet and Red Alert to the base first, giving the security expert time to reformat the grid to read the defecting Cons' energy signatures as friendlies, then come back for his wing mates and Meanstreak. The fembot was going along with the trine only because Skywarp adamantly refused to leave her around the Autobot twins if he wasn't going to be around as backup. Barricade had tried to argue that not only could Meanstreak take care of herself but that there would still be six other Cons with her, but the Seeker wouldn't hear of it and Starscream finally caved to the request just so they could leave before it got much later.

The only one who wasn't surprised that two of the Cassetticons were traveling to the base with Starscream was Ironhide; Ratchet hadn't been the only one to note the damage Frenzy was sporting and figured that the bonded pair would have their wounded youngling accompany Starscream. It made sense that Rumble would go along for the ride, given how close he'd remained to his silver counterpart during the meeting. He'd seen the same behaviour in the Lamborghini twins on more than one occasion, one hovering about the med bay while the other was on Ratchet or First Aid's table.

Still, that meant that the remaining Bots and Cons had a long drive back to the base, even with two police cars leading the way with their lights and sirens on. It was painfully obvious that neither cruiser wanted to be near the other; finally, out of frustration, Sunstreaker had peeled away from the back of the pack to settle himself between the two of them just so they could get back to base without a fight breaking out.

"_What we'__ve got here is a failure to communicate,_" Soundwave remarked to Miles, who had opted to ride with the van rather than Sam and Mikaela; however, even though the Cons had been surprisingly gracious towards the teen and had indeed done no harm to Miles, Optimus hadn't been willing to leave Soundwave unmonitored during the trip. Wheeljack had volunteered to keep watch on the former third in command, and thus was audience to the conversation.

"What do you mean?" the scientist asked, keeping a sensor on the cruisers.

"_It ain'__t easy, growing up in World War Three,_" was the reply; Wheeljack frowned to himself and did a quick search for the lyric that Soundwave had answered with. When he found the song title, he nearly stalled out in shock at what the van was insinuating.

"You're kidding, right?"

"_I don'__t think so, Tim._"

"Interesting," Wheeljack muttered to himself. If what Soundwave was saying was true, life would definitely _not_ be dull around the base.

Not long after that, the group arrived at the Autobot base of operations. It was a little-known fact that Tranquility had once been home to an underground military base, but it had fallen into disuse and been abandoned for decades. After the events in Mission City, the government had officially reopened the base and manned it with specially selected personnel. The truth of the matter was, frankly, that the government had given the base to the Autobots to use as they saw fit, and the military and government personnel who worked on base as well were Will Lennox's Ranger unit and one former Sector Seven agent who never failed to get them what they needed in his role as liaison.

Thankfully, they were all long gone by this time of night, because not even Optimus Prime knew how they were going to explain this one.

"I hope you have a better explanation for this than the one your medic and security tech gave me."

...although that fact only held true when Red Alert _didn'__t_ put in a call to Reggie Simmons after hours for some emergency or another. And Simmons was never happy to be hauled out of bed for no good reason.

"The last time Red called me in the middle of the night was after Destructobot landed and nearly blew up the old explosives dump before any of us could make sure that there was nothing dangerous left inside," the agent continued, sounding distinctly annoyed to be on base at ten o'clock at night rather than his apartment on the far side of town.

"Hey, I apologized for that!" Wheeljack protested, ignoring Simmons' nickname for him as usual. The agent had the tendency to lock onto one aspect regarding the Cybertronians he'd met and dub them accordingly, which no one really minded so long as he didn't start using _N.B.E._-whatever again.

"I would have just phoned this in," Simmons added, "if the context of the message hadn't been _how long would it take to get clearance for three F-22 Raptors to be on base, this isn'__t a rhetorical question_. Speaking of said F-22s, someone needs to go find that flighty purple one before Medbot tracks him down. He said something about needing to wash his turbines before vanishing out of the repair bay at the word _virus scan_."

"I'd vanish, too, if I were him," Sideswipe couldn't help but remark. "I'm not fond of virus scans myself."

Soundwave shook his head, far too used to Skywarp's antics when it came to visiting a medic for anything more than a patch-up between bouts of combat. Not even Starscream could get the mech to stay put for a virus scan, and for all his childishness at times Skywarp honestly respected the air commander more than any other soldier in the Decepticon army.

"And I'm _still_ waiting for an explanation as to why you're harboring fugitives."

Optimus heaved a sigh as his Autobots began to quickly disappear in all directions, Ironhide and Wheeljack accompanying the Decepticons to the med bay. This wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation in the least.

* * *

Ratchet glanced back over at the black femme, frowning to himself. There was something odd about her, and it wasn't just the fact that she had survived being a fembot in the Decepticon army.

He had managed to do full scans on all the Cons by three in the morning (including Skywarp after both his wing mates had cornered him in the rec room and dragged him back to the med bay, much to the amusement of the twins and Barricade), yet Meanstreak wouldn't let him near her spark chamber. In spite of this, she continued to hover around the med bay and kept turning her attention toward the door leading to the back room.

Ratchet intended to eventually turn that area into an intensive care unit, for whenever any of his patients had heavy injuries and needed access to a CR chamber; Wheeljack was actually working on building a couple of units in his lab and hoped to have them finished within the next month. For the time being, though, it was being used as a holding room.

By old Cybertronian tradition, it was where Jazz's chassis was being kept until a full Earth lunar cycle had passed. No one was really certain why a fallen warrior was kept unentombed for so long, but Ratchet felt it may have had to do with an old story he'd heard once. Something about the spark not being ready to return to the Well of All Sparks and a loved one returning it to its rightful casing, if he was remembering it correctly.

"What's in there?" the femme asked, her rasping voice drawing the medic from his silent musings. Her optics were once again locked on that door, although this time she had crossed the room to gaze at it up close.

"At the moment, one of our fallen soldiers," Ratchet answered honestly, seeing no harm in telling her. Burnt orange optics, rare amongst Decepticons but not so much as the blue shared by the Cassetticon twins, turned to regard him before swinging back to the door again.

"Jazz, correct?" When Ratchet's optics narrowed into a hard glare, she forced a faint apologetic smile. "Do you know the legend behind this tradition of holding the deactivated for a specified time frame?"

_That_ was an unexpected change of topic. The medic frowned at Meanstreak, who simply stared back at him guilelessly. It was clear she was waiting for a response, and he was somewhat curious as to whether a Con knew the same story he had heard. "I heard it a long time ago. How did you hear it?"

The Mustang tilted her head slightly before abruptly pushing open the door and striding into the room, Ratchet on her heels. She stopped by the berth that Jazz's chassis was laid out on and began to speak as if telling the deactivated warrior the tale as well: "In the early times, the cycles long forgotten, Cybertron was at war with an outside force. Although it is true that our race prevailed, it was not without sacrifices. Many warriors fell, and returned to the Well of All Sparks to await rebirth. There was one, however, who could not rest.

"He had a bondmate, his only family, who relied on him to return to her side after the enemy had been driven out. He remembered his promise, and rather than return to the Well he instead made his way back to his bondmate. When the first Prime realized what had happened, he commanded that the warrior's body be taken to his home city and his mate.

"The warrior's bondmate did not understand why her mate's spark was present and not his body, and, not knowing what else to do, locked it within her spark casing. Her mate's spark did not pulse as hers did, and she could hear it singing to her own spark with promises to remain for all time. It frightened her, and she nearly ripped it from her chest, but the first Lord Protector, having spoken with his brother, told her to be patient and wait until the end of the lunar cycle.

"On the final day of the lunar cycle, the Prime arrived in the city with the warrior's shell. The bondmate came, escorted by the Lord Protector. Together, the Prime and Lord Protector removed the warrior's spark from his mate's casing, returning it to where it had once rested. Almost at once, the fallen warrior returned to life, and lived for many vorns after that.

"The legend adds that any time a warrior falls, if he or she has someone they are closely connected with, his or her spark will seek out that individual in order to say a final farewell," Meanstreak concluded, lifting her gaze to meet the medic's. "It's been said that siblings, even on opposite sides of the war, can reach one another."

Ratchet locked the story in his memory banks, comparing it to the bits and pieces he could recall and startled to find how much of her account matched the one he knew. "I don't deny the possibility," he said slowly, "but when Megatron fell his spark dissipated almost immediately."

"I think it can only happen if the siblings remained close, in spite of their differing views," the femme responded.

"Again, I won't deny that it's possible." The medic frowned again and asked, "Why the ancient history lesson?"

Meanstreak blinked at him before moving her hands towards her chest plate. "Because I maintained familial bonds with my brother," she said as she opened the plate to expose her spark casing, revealing two different coloured sparks pulsing in counterpoint to one another, "and I don't think Jazz is ready to go to the Well just yet."

* * *

**Quote Credits:** I _had_ thought about letting you guys play a little game of "Guess the Quote," but finally decided that might be either too easy or too hard, as well as pretty mean of me. Instead, I'm gonna go ahead and give credit where it's due.

_I will knock. Your. Punk ass. Down. _– Will Smith as James Edwards, _Men in Black._

_What we'__ve got here is a failure to communicate._ – Strother Martin as Captain, _Cool Hand Luke_.

_It ain'__t easy, growing up in World War Three._ – Pink, "Family Portrait."

_I don'__t think so, Tim._ – Richard Karn as Al Borland, _Home Improvement_.

And if you think you might have caught onto what Soundwave meant by replying to Wheeljack's question with that particular lyric, feel free to mention it in the comments. I'll reply whether you nailed it or not, and it will be definitely explained next chapter!


	8. Chapter Six

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro; Meanstreak © yours truly.

**Reminder:** Please be aware that some - if not all - of these characters are not acting as their G1/movie counterparts for reasons that will be explained... eventually.

* * *

Early morning activity wasn't unusual on the Autobot base. They were, after all, still adapting to the Earth's orbital cycles and the days were terribly short, leaving some mornings where everyone was awake and active before the sun rose; conversely there were days when the humans had been on base for several hours before the first Autobot was even starting to come online. The only exceptions to this were Wheeljack (who usually had some project in the works), Ratchet (who was hardwired to be on call at all times), and Sideswipe (who was only online early in the day if he hadn't bothered to recharge the night before).

For this reason, it wasn't terribly uncommon for Ratchet to be in the med bay long before any of his allies were online, especially when he had a patient. Frenzy's repairs had been finished before he was able to do a diagnostic on Skywarp, although he had insisted that the mech remain overnight for observation. Said silver youngling was still offline, his twin curled up on the berth next to him equally unconscious.

It was amazing that the pair were resting so soundly given the amount of activity going on around them.

"I thought you had more than two logic circuits to rub together in that head of yours, Streaky," Skywarp was just an octave below shouting at the Mustang. Thundercracker was leaning against a wall, shaking his head and muttering something about over-clocked wing mates having death wishes, while Starscream was keeping the flying Cassetticons from getting into Ratchet's equipment with assistance from Ravage. Soundwave and Barricade had, upon arriving to the med bay, been put to work helping to move Jazz's chassis from the back room to one of the operating tables.

Meanstreak sent a glare back at the Seeker. "First of all, don't call me Streaky. And second, I thought we were clear on the fact that I was going to make sure that my brother's spark was returned to its rightful place," she snapped in reply, voice still at her usual whisper-level but cracking dangerously. "I love you dearly, although Primus alone knows _why_ sometimes, but family is family."

"Yeah, but when we discussed this back on the Nemesis, I was under the impression that you would – oh, I don't know – _wait until one of us was also here before you said something!_"

"If you wake either of my younglings, Warp, I am going to make sure you regret it," Starscream remarked casually as he caught Ratbat in one clawed hand and set the giggling youngling on his shoulder. Soundwave gave the youngest of the Seekers a sharp look before heading to ensure that Frenzy was still resting.

"And if the lot of you don't pipe down right now, I'll throw you all out of my med bay," Ratchet added with a glower of his own. It seemed that the twins had spread the word about the medic's temperament to the defectors as the arguing pair fell silent even though they continued to glare at one another in a manner that said this discussion was far from over.

Even though the near-yelling had ceased, it had apparently carried through the corridor; no more than a minute had passed since Ratchet's terse request for silence when Prowl and Red Alert walked into the med bay to investigate. Upon seeing the Decepticon interceptor, the Autobot second's optics narrowed into a hard glare and he revved his engines in annoyance.

"Causing trouble already?" he demanded, the tone of his voice not one that his colleagues had ever heard before.

Barricade sneered back. "Any time there's a problem, it's always _my_ doing, isn't it?" he snapped in reply, crossing his arms defensively over his chest.

"_Your presumptions won_'_t prevail_," Soundwave commented, shooting both cruisers an annoyed look. "_A__rgue__ with him about it __later__._"

"Best suggestion I've heard all morning," Ratchet cut in, turning his attention from his tools to the Mustang who was still glowering as Skywarp. "Meanstreak, I'll need you on that table. It might be best if you're in stasis during this, just to be safe." The femme directed a final sharp glare at Skywarp before starting towards the indicated table. She didn't get more than a few steps before the jetformer caught her arm and tugged her back towards him slightly.

"Stay lucky, Streak," he said simply, his tone apologetic yet also worried. The Mustang gave him a small smile and rested her hand over his.

"I'll be fine, Sky. But thank you."

"Everyone who doesn't _need_ to be in here, there's the door," the medic said, shooting pointed looks at the majority of the Decepticons as well as Prowl and Red Alert. Soundwave and Skywarp were the only ones who gave no indication of leaving, the vanformer remaining by his slumbering younglings while the Seeker took up Thundercracker's abandoned post at the wall.

Barricade made an annoyed sound and turned to the blue Seeker once the door had slid shut behind them. "Have they been like _that_ the entire time I've been away?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Thundercracker replied. "I don't know why they don't just bond and get it over with already."

"As fascinating and informative as your conversation is," Starscream cut in, keeping a close eye on his aerial younglings as Ravage settled himself over one of his secondary caregiver's shoulders, "none of us has had a decent recharge since before we made planet fall. I will order you to do so if I have to."

Prowl shot his Decepticon counterpart a hard glare. "Not only causing trouble but you still can't take care of your needs without being told to do so. I should have known."

"For your information, _Prowl_," Barricade snarled in response, "it's been a very trying month. When you have to watch your back every astrosecond because you don't currently have backup close at hand, you tend to ignore recharge cycles even when you're ready to collapse."

"If you'd have shown a little sense, maybe you wouldn't have had to worry about that."

"Oh, I think I showed quite a bit of sense when I left, especially since it was obvious I wasn't welcome any longer."

"Sometimes, I really have to wonder exactly what in the pit I did wrong."

"You're the one who raised me to think for myself and make my own slagging decisions."

By this point, both cruisers were fairly shouting at one another, drawing attention from the other residents of the base. Ratchet was apparently ignoring them, although from the cursing that resounded in Starscream's mind it was clear that Soundwave was getting more than a little aggravated by the argument. In an effort to keep his bondmate from snapping and taking out an entire family unit in only two shots, the Seeker stepped forward and pushed the two against opposite walls.

"I've been informed to tell the pair of you that if you want to continue this argument, take it elsewhere," he ground out, "or my mate will come out here and finish it for you. So unless you'd rather spend the next three stellar cycles in the repair bay, I'd suggest you do as requested."

Prowl knocked Starscream's hand away, shooting a withering glare at the Decepticon scout before stalking off in the direction of the rec room. The Lamborghini twins, who had come to see what all the shouting was about, jumped out of the way and watched as the normally collected mech stormed past as if he was ready to kill anything that got in his way at the moment.

_::Do I need to go back to recharge, or did Prowl just stalk by here like he was off to take on a fleet of Cons on his own?::_ Sideswipe asked, still staring in the direction the second-in-command had vanished.

Sunstreaker didn't answer, turning his attention to the mechs still in the hall outside the med bay. Unlike his brother, he had been online for hours and was processing quickly enough to have caught the gist of the argument. Deciding that it would be best to get answers later – and perhaps gain an ally who knew the tactician on a level he could never even dream of achieving – the Lamborghini picked his target.

"I don't know about you, but if I'd just gotten into it with a caregiver, recharging would be the last thing on my processor," he remarked almost casually to Barricade. When it didn't appear that the interceptor was going to rip his head off, he added, "If you're skipping out on that, refuel. There's no high-grade, and it's not that great considering what we've got to work with, but there's enough energon to go around."

Barricade considered this for a moment before giving a nod. "So long as _he_ doesn't come back through before I cool down," he growled lowly. Sunstreaker seemed pleased with this answer and headed back down the way he'd come, the scout following him and Sideswipe joining when they reached him. Thundercracker pushed off the wall after they disappeared from sight.

"I'm going to catch a few joors of recharge," he informed his wing leader. "My comm will be up, just in case."

"Rest well." Starscream watched until the older jetformer was gone before turning to Red Alert. "You look like you have something on your mind," he remarked.

The Eclipse glanced back down the hallway briefly before giving a nod. "Could I have a moment of your time?" he requested. "I have a few questions that I've spent vorns trying to answer, and you may be able to help answer at least one of them."

To his credit, the Seeker managed to not look surprised at the request. He gave a brief nod and mentally called his younglings to him. They could at least recharge in his chest compartment while he was speaking with Red Alert. Once all four had slipped inside and he could feel them drift off, Starscream turned his attention back to the Eclipse. "What would you like to know?"

* * *

_It was hard to believe that Vos had once been a glittering neutral city, home to those not so fortunate as to live in the larger cities such as Iacon or Tyger Pax. Not when the once-towering spires were little more than rubble, not when the only energy signatures belonged to the Prime_'_s security forces or the once-noble Lord High Protector_'_s private army._

_Decepticons, they were called. An army made up of the outcasts, the so-called Undesirables of Cybertron, mechs and femmes that were built for the defense of their world but had turned violent in their quest for equality._

_Red Alert wondered how such beings could fall so far. He didn_'_t always agree with the senate, but he wouldn_'_t have slain them all in the senate chambers as Megatron had._

_When the Prime had requested volunteers to go to Vos and look for possible survivors – they were all hoping beyond hope that the sparklings and younglings that had been taken there escaped from the carnage somehow – the young security mech had eagerly offered his assistance. The chance that Decepticons might still be in the area was high, but they were armed. Plus, they were treating this as a stealth mission, with one objective: recover any survivors and return to base camp. They had a thirty-joor time limit, going in pairs to different sectors; if they found no one in that time frame they were to return immediately._

_They hadn_'_t suspected that there would be any bombs left in the rubble as traps._

_Red Alert_'_s partner – a mech whose name he hadn_'_t even known, whom he had only met today – stumbled upon one and was blown apart by the blast. The security mech had immediately fallen back onto his training, slipping into the decimated buildings and using them as cover until he arrived at one of the orphanage sites. It was obvious that no one could have survived the destruction there, as it looked as if a bomb had been dropped directly on the building._

_It was discouraging, knowing that his partner had lost his life and that his own safety was at stake for naught, but Red Alert was determined to get back to base camp. He managed to make it partway before he picked up an energy reading that wasn_'_t one he recognized._

_He ducked back into a gutted building as a pair of ground scouts came into view, moving slowly as they scanned the area. Both transformed, the larger one a deep blue mech and the smaller a black femme. They talked quietly, basic Cybertronian mixed with the lilting dialect of those who were Iacon-sparked – the security mech wasn_'_t terribly surprised, given how many Undesirables had been cast out of that city in past orns – before splitting up and heading opposite directions._

_Red Alert powered down as many of his systems as he could without slipping into stasis, watching quietly as the femme grew closer to his hiding spot. He had no weapons on him, having lost his gun in the explosion that destroyed his partner, and wasn_'_t sure if he could take down a Decepticon-trained warrior, fembot or no. The door to the structure was shoved open, crumbling into dust as it collided with the wall, and hard orange optics swept the room before falling on Red Alert._

_The security mech cursed silently to himself, preparing to fight his way out even if the femme_'_s partner returned and destroyed him. The scout watched him, no mercy in her gaze although there wasn_'_t the fury that the Iacon contingent had come to associate with Decepticons either._

"Breakdown to Meanstreak,"_ came a gruff voice over the fembot_'_s radio. She kept her optics locked on Red Alert as her partner continued, _"No activity here. You got anything?"

"_Meanstreak to Breakdown,_"_ she replied. _"_Negative, just some scrap shifting in the wreckage._"

"Then let's get the slag out of here."

"_Roger and out._"_ The femme cut off her radio and stepped backward out the doorway, not turning her back to Red Alert. Once she was clear of the structure she said clearly, _"_Tell them to go back to Iacon. Tell them to go back to Tyger Pax. Lord Megatron ensured that there were no survivors. Don_'_t waste your time here when there are other things at stake._"

_The scout transformed back into her ground skimmer mode and tore away from the ruins, meeting up with her larger partner and tearing off into the distance at his side. Red Alert waited silently, counting to one hundred before making his way from the wreckage and resuming the journey back to base camp._

_In the back of his processor, though, he replayed the femme scout_'_s words and wondered why she had allowed him to live.

* * *

_Optimus frowned thoughtfully as Red Alert finished reporting the information he'd gained in his conversation with the former Decepticon second. The Autobot commander had long suspected that someone higher in the ranks than the scout whom the security mech had encountered in the ruins of Vos sent her to give a warning by proxy, but he hadn't been certain who it was until now. The confirmation that Starscream had not only known Meanstreak at that point but had scheduled her to be patrolling the ruins finally allowed the final piece of the puzzle to fall into place.

"So in a manner of speaking, it was Starscream who passed along the information that Megatron was after the All Spark?" Prowl questioned incredulously. He wasn't positive that he bought the story, but he had been one of the ranking officers on the search-and-rescue mission to Vos and heard the account first-hand upon Red Alert's return to base camp.

"It was either him or Soundwave," Ironhide remarked. "Considering their behaviour, I wouldn't be surprised if they _both_ made the decision."

Wheeljack nodded in agreement. "I managed a very brief conversation with Soundwave earlier in the med bay. He didn't deny that Starscream's his bondmate, and he confirmed Ironhide's theory that the Cassetticons _aren_'_t_ drones, but I didn't get to ask him anything more because Ratchet threw me out; something about having patients in recovery, I think."

Prowl frowned darkly. "When I stopped in this morning during that shouting match between the fembot and Skywarp, I noticed that he'd moved Jazz from the back room. I had meant to ask what was going on, but—"

"But you got into a shouting match of your own with Cade," Sideswipe interjected almost cheerfully; he hadn't been sure why his brother had buddied up to the Con earlier, but after they'd started talking and the reason why the cruisers didn't get along was confirmed, he had warmed up to Barricade a little. Anyone who could get under Prowl's plating was okay in his book.

As Prowl gave the Lamborghini a withering glare, Optimus' comm link beeped. **Ratchet to Prime.**

**What is it, Ratchet?** the Autobot commander asked, wondering absently if the medic was going to explain what had been going on in the repair bay for the past several hours.

**Could you come to med bay for a moment? Anyone else can come along if they wish.**

**On my way,** he replied, turning his attention back to the assembled Autobots. "Ratchet just commed. I think he may be ready to reveal what he was doing earlier."

The only Bots who didn't make their way to the med bay were Bumblebee and Arcee, who were off-base at the moment with Sam, Mikaela and Miles; the blond had finally agreed to hear his friend out on why he'd kept quiet about everything as well as give his reasoning for listening to what the Decepticon defectors had to say in the first place. The two scouts had agreed to bring back any new information that might inadvertently be revealed by the teen upon their return in the evening. For the moment, however, there was a mystery on base to tend to.

When the group entered the med bay, the first thing they noticed was that Ratchet had closed off the side he had designated as the recovery area. The medic himself was checking over a data pad, apparently making sure that his findings were sound before glancing up to notice his comrades.

"I didn't realize you'd be bringing the entire base, Prime," he said, his tone not entirely annoyed but it was clear he was displeased with his domain being so crowded. "At least half the Decepticons are small so it's not too bad when they're all crammed in here."

"Sorry," Optimus replied. "I believe you had some news for me?"

Ratchet nodded, setting aside the data pad. "First off, I've confirmed that the Cassetticons are actually younglings that were reformatted into drone casings just before the beginning of the first Decepticon campaign. Neither Soundwave nor Starscream will go into the reason why, but I suspect that they weren't willing to send them away or allow them to upgrade to adult protoforms at that point."

"You mentioned that you were going to check those two and the femme for vocalizer damage," Wheeljack noted.

"And I would, if I could get any of them to sit still for more than an astrosecond," the medic replied tersely. "Or, in Meanstreak's case, if I could get Skywarp to _leave already!_"

"Bite me!" the Seeker in question called from the recovery area, followed by laughter from whomever else was there with him. Ratchet shook his head in annoyance, but didn't seem to be too bothered by the behaviour of his patients or their visitor.

Prowl rolled his optics towards the ceiling. Although it had once been a faded memory, he could now clearly recall Barricade going through a phase where any comment he'd made was met by sarcasm or a flippant response. For a while, the younger mech had seemed to have grown out of it... at least, until the separation between the classes had gotten more distinct and they'd come to verbal blows over how it should be dealt with. A part of him longed to make amends, but it was overshadowed by his own ideals as well as his disappointment in the mech that Barricade had become.

Rather than dwell on such unsettling thoughts, he turned his full attention to Ratchet. "Your use of _first off_ makes me believe that you have more to share."

The medic actually seemed to brighten. "I do. It was brought to my attention that a story long thought to be a myth or legend was rooted in fact, and it offered a means to an end."

"Yeah. Could you explain that in language that a non-science geek can understand?" Sunstreaker asked, turning to shoot a semi-apologetic look to Wheeljack. "No offense."

"None taken," the engineer replied. "I'm not entirely sure _I_ understood all that."

Ratchet continued to look amused. "Plainly put, the body is nothing but a casing without the spark. But, if you can replace the spark...." He trailed off, shaking his head as if deciding that words weren't sufficient to explain and waved for the others to follow him into the recovery area of the repair bay.

To say that the Bots were shocked was an understatement.

"What's the matter? Y'all look like you've seen a ghost."

"_Jazz?_"

"Wha...?"

"How did—"

The Solstice, apparently unperturbed at the fact that he should be dead, blinked at his allies. "The pit was afraid I'd take over," he said seriously. His expression only remained stoic until Meanstreak snorted before dissolving into another fit of laughter.

As the two Cons and Jazz tried to regain their composure, Optimus turned to face his obviously pleased medic. "I think you need to tell me everything from the beginning."

* * *

**End Notes:** Once again, it's time to give credit where it's due for the quotes/lyrics used by Soundwave to communicate:

_[But] your presumptions won_'_t prevail._ – Kimberly Locke, "Wrong."

_[I_'_ll] argue with him about it later._ – James Mason as Erwin Johannes Rommel, _The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel_.

Currently, my November word count is sitting at 5,790. That's not too bad, and I'll probably be starting the next chapter this evening so that number could go up before the end of the day.


	9. Chapter Seven

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro; Meanstreak © yours truly.

**Reminder:** Please be aware that some - if not all - of these characters are not acting as their G1/movie counterparts for reasons that will be explained... eventually.

**Note:** Just a quick "thank you" to everyone who has read and review thus far. I know some chapters are shorter than others (this being one of them), but there's still a lot to cover so please bear with me!

* * *

Sundays mornings, in Sam's experience, were supposed to be lazy days. If he'd spent the weekend hanging out with Miles, they would be winding down a movie marathon around four in the morning and sleeping until close to noon, at which point Judy would start pounding on the door. If he'd spent the time with Mikaela, Bumblebee and Arcee, he'd still be lazing about in bed although most likely be talking on the phone with his girlfriend or car at the same time.

Sunday mornings were not supposed to begin with his best friend calling him on the phone – after having spent the entire previous evening ignoring him in favour of a group of giant alien robots that Sam could have sworn were the enemy but who seemed to have taken a shine to the blond teenager for reasons known only to them – to ask if they could clear the air between them.

Of course Sam told him yes.

Which was why he was back at Lookout Point at ten in the morning, sitting on his guardian's hood with Mikaela on one side of him and Miles on the other, Arcee in vehicle-mode parked close by and staring out over Tranquility. The fact that he wanted to wring Miles' neck at the moment was also a completely new twist on a 'normal' Sunday morning.

"You got in the car because her holographic driver seemed _nice?_" Mikaela repeated, giving Miles a look that said, quite frankly, that she was amazed he'd lived long enough to reach the age of seventeen.

"What?" the blond asked, sounding almost insulted that Mikaela found that so surprising. "She came across as shy, what with the speaking quiet thing. Okay, so I know _now_ that that's just because her vocalizer or whatever is busted somehow, but at the time I didn't know."

"Miles, dude. My _mom_ gave you the _don't get into cars with strangers_ speech because she didn't want anything to happen to you whenever you left my house," Sam remarked, shaking his head. "I'm not telling her you ignored the speech."

Miles shrugged slightly and settled back against Bumblebee's windshield. "You think I'm gonna tell her I did that? Uh-uh. Your mom's scary."

Arcee's motor revved in her version of amused laughter. "What I want to know is, since when do Decepticons treat a potential hostage as if he's one of their own? Especially an organic life form. No offense intended to any of you, but most Cons would sooner squash an organic than make conversation with it."

"Well, actually," Miles said, head tilted back to gaze up at the clouds, "Skywarp sort of said that the original plan – when they thought you'd told me about all of this – was to show up here, use me as a hostage, and demand that you guys meet them at the air field. Em was a little pissed when she realized I was absolutely clueless." He opened his eyes and looked down at Bumblebee's hood, rapping on it with one hand. "Hey, is calling someone a – man, what was it? oh, yeah – _pit-spawned glitch_ a bad thing?"

Bumblebee sputtered and Arcee actually fell over laughing. "It's, uh, not terribly polite," the Camaro offered, sending over private comm to Arcee, **It wasn't that funny!**

**Oh, yes it was!** the pink femme replied, still shaking on the ground. **I think I might like having another girl around to talk to if she always speaks her mind so bluntly.**

Mikaela was trying not to laugh at her guardian's obvious mirth. "In that case, I think it's a good thing that Sam hadn't told you. I'm still trying to figure out how to bring it up to my dad."

"Don't say, _hey, I wanna show you something outside_ and let Arcee transform in front of him," Sam advised. "My dad _still_ won't let Bee come within ten feet of the back yard. Mom's pretty cool with it, though. I think she was a Trekkie when she was younger, so that's probably got something to do with it."

The teens fell silent for a while, content to watch the clouds as the two robots watching over them conversed silently once Arcee had righted herself once more. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but Sam jerked back to awareness when Bumblebee's engine gave a short rev of surprise.

"Bee? What's up?" he asked, worry colouring his voice.

The Camaro opened both his doors, an obvious invitation for the teens to climb in even as Arcee activated her holographic rider (which, Miles couldn't help but note, was nearly identical to Meanstreak's and left him wondering if all the Cybertronians had a specific one depending on if they were 'male' or 'female'). "Unless the twins put Ironhide up to pulling a prank," Bumblebee said once his passengers were secure, "it seems like Jazz is back from the dead."

Mikaela and Sam exchanged surprised looks while Miles grinned. "Wonder what she had to say to convince that medbot guy that she wasn't crazy," he mused aloud. At Bumblebee's questioning sound and his friends' stares, the blond began to explain a bit of what the Decepticons had told him while they'd been waiting the previous evening.

* * *

_::You're hiding from the medic.::_

Soundwave huffed through his vents, ignoring the amused note to Starscream's mental voice. As soon as Frenzy had been declared fit to leave the repair bay, the blue mech had gathered him and Rumble up, making a beeline towards where he sensed his mate. The rooms that the Autobots had provided for the defectors weren't anything special, no more than Optimus Prime would give his own soldiers, but they were definitely not the holding cells that Soundwave had been expecting.

The former Decepticon officer could pretend that he'd left the medic's domain simply to ensure that his younglings made it through the corridors safely – no matter how generous their 'hosts' may be, this was still enemy territory as far as he was concerned – but he knew that his bonded's words weren't far from the truth. The reason most Cons had at least minor field repair knowledge was for the express purpose of spending as little time in the repair bay as possible; Starscream's past as an explorer, xenobiologist, and inventor had convinced the Seeker that the ability to repair minor injuries was a necessary skill back before he fell out of favour in Iacon and opted to start over again in Vos.

_::I am not,::_ he replied smoothly. _::Since Ratchet has finished working to revive Jazz and the other Autobots have descended en masse, I thought it best to leave them to their reunion.::_

"And the fact that Ratchet said he wanted to check your vocalizer has nothing to do with you trying to reset the security code on our door," Starscream said aloud, drawing amused tittering from all six of the younglings.

Soundwave heaved a mental sigh. His bonded knew him far too well, it seemed. _::He's still trying to get a look at Meanstreak's, but Skywarp keeps insisting that it's unnecessary. And I _know_ that he wants to check yours as well.::_

The Seeker shrugged. "It's not a concern," he remarked. "Likely just a damaged wire or two. Yours, though, is definitely not minor. I would have repaired it vorns ago if I had the skill."

_::I've grown used to it,::_ the mech said. He added to himself that, oddly, the high-pitched whine that now underscored Starscream's voice was somehow endearing. The minor flaw made his bondmate seem a bit more _real_ to him; even after being together for so long, orns before Megatron had started to build the Decepticon army, Soundwave still managed to be surprised that a mech as brilliant as the Seeker had chosen him to bond with.

"I still miss hearing your voice."

"And Barricade complains about Skywarp and Meanstreak," Ravage remarked dryly from where he was curled up on one of the berths. "He'd probably fritz his motherboard and drop into stasis if he were to walk in on this conversation."

"Which is why Primus invented locking codes," Laserbeak chirred matter-of-factly.

"Doesn't help when we're shut in with them," Buzzsaw retorted as their caregivers turned to give the lot of them pointed looks.

"I didn't s-say a word!" Frenzy was quick to note, blinking all his optics innocently; next to him Rumble and Ratbat were snickering madly while trying to shush each other.

"Remind me again why we decided six younglings was a good idea," the jetformer sighed, equal parts amused and exasperated as Soundwave's deep chuckle echoed in his mind. Starscream shook his head and turned to look at his mate. "In all seriousness, though, Wave—"

_::I know,::_ the van said softly, lightly running his fingers across his bonded's face. _::Once things calm in the med bay, I'll allow Ratchet to examine my vocalizer. But only because you want me to.::_

The warm expression that crossed the Seeker's face reminded Soundwave just why _he_ had chosen Starscream. When truly happy, there was no other amongst their kind who could compare to the beautiful creature his mate could truly be.

* * *

If there was just one thing Prowl could say about the past two days, it was that they had certainly not been dull. Honestly, in a way they could almost have been called _overwhelming_, and as evening fell the tactician took a moment to head off-base and clear his processors.

Knowing that the mech he had raised from a sparkling was nearby had been trying enough, the caregiver portion of his programming demanding that he seek out Barricade and see with his own two optics that he was alive and fully functional. His own stubborn logic had overruled the more emotional reaction, reminding him that the sparkling who had once been terrified of the smallest petrorat had grown to become the killer of thousands and neither needed nor wanted his former caregiver in the way. Had Starscream's small faction simply gone into hiding after defecting from the main Decepticon force, he might have been able to continue to fool himself.

However, since it was clear that the former Cons would be permanent guests of the Autobots, Prowl was finding it difficult to fight his programming. Rather than give in to the desire to reestablish the caregiver-youngling bond they'd once shared, he latched onto the last fight they'd had along with the anger and disappointment he'd felt and hurled it in Barricade's face. In a way he was glad that the interceptor fired the same right back; even so, a part of him still wanted to make amends.

To confuse things further, he had only just started to accept the fact that his best friend was gone. Even before the war, Jazz had been a solid fixture in Prowl's life. The smaller mech had brought laughter and light to their shared youngling stage, in spite of the sadness behind the smiles shortly after they reached adulthood. He had been supportive of Prowl's decision to raise a sparkling, offering stability during the most trying days of being a caregiver. He had been the one whom the tactician had turned to when his former youngling stalked out of his life and became the enemy overnight.

And just as he was finally facing the fact that the silver mech would never be there again, Jazz turned reality upside-down and came back from the dead.

Little wonder, then, that Prowl needed time alone to think.

Tranquility was quiet this evening, as was the norm for the town even with all the attention it had received from Prime and the others' initial landings. Generally just the sight of a patrol car was enough to curb any undesirable juvenile behaviour, leaving the tactician with little to distract him from his thoughts. A momentary urge to head towards the lake crossed his processors but he decided that actually being in motion was best for dealing with his disjointed thoughts.

**Energon snack for your thoughts?**

For a moment, Prowl wondered if he'd imagined the voice coming over the private comm link. When he didn't answer and was pinged three times in rapid succession, he realized that running – whether he'd admit that he was doing so or not – was no longer an option.

**You really don't want to know, Jazz,** he replied, slowing his speed and allowing himself to coast down the road headed away from the base. **Trust me on this one.**

A low laugh was the initial reply. **Y'know, sometimes it **_**does**_** help to talk it out. I know how your mind works, Prowler, and I'm surprised you haven't fried a logic circuit over this one.**

**This is....** The cruiser trailed off, trying to think of how to phrase what he wanted to say before deciding on, **It's going to take some getting used to. You were... gone for almost a month, Jazz.**

It was nearly a full minute before he got a reply this time. **In a way, yeah. But – and this is gonna sound crazy so you might wanna pull over – I remember what happened.**

Prowl was glad he'd followed Jazz's advice, as if he'd still been in motion he probably would have run himself off the road. **You what? But... that's not possible. It's illogical no matter how you look at it.**

**Maybe, but I clearly remember fighting Megatron and feeling him pull me apart. By all rights, yeah, I should've been heading right for the Well at that point... but all I could think about was how I hadn't seen Means for a long time,** the Solstice said, sounding quite serious. **And I had to make sure she was doing alright before I could even think of leaving.**

Prowl frowned to himself, searching through his memory files for a reason _why_ Jazz's story sounded like something he'd heard before. It took him a few astroseconds to find what he was searching for, and the small portion of his programming that didn't rely solely on logic stuttered for a second.

**That sounds almost like the tale of Skyfall and Beta,** he said slowly, **back in the time of the first Prime and Lord Protector. I thought that was only a myth.**

**Hey, it's not like I believed it either till now,** Jazz chuckled in reply. **Means didn't seem too surprised. Actually, she was kinda slagged off that I got myself killed but other than that....**

When no more was forthcoming, Prowl cut his engine back on and began traveling back towards Tranquility. With an answer as to _how_ Jazz had returned, he had new questions about the legends of their people and a suspicion that the Decepticons knew more than they were letting on; the fact that Jazz's sister wasn't startled by what amounted to low-level possession wasn't usual behaviour for a soldier who was trained to shoot first and ask questions never.

**That ain't all that's bothering you,** Jazz abruptly accused, nearly causing the cruiser to veer off the road. **You should talk to him.**

**I have nothing to say to Barricade.**

Jazz's sigh sounded distinctly annoyed. **Prowler, I know you. You're my best friend, so don't lie to me. You might hate the Decepticons, but you can't hate **_**him**_** no matter how much you tell yourself you do. I might not agree with Means' decision to join the Cons, but I understand. We ain't let that keep us from being family.**

Prowl didn't answer, simply blocking off the comm link to indicate that he was done with the conversation. Even so, his friend's words continued to echo through his processor until he finally turned back in the direction of the base. He could deny it all he wanted, but the only thing he wanted right now – the one thing he wanted even more than an end to the war and perhaps to one day come to think of this planet as 'home' – was to make peace with his former youngling.

As he disappeared down the road, another cruiser pulled out of a parking lot and turned towards the base as well. Barricade knew his former comrades well enough to know that they would target a lone Autobot. True, there was only the slightest chance that any had made planet fall in the past twenty-four hours, but the interceptor wasn't going to take any chances. After all, no matter what may have happened between them, Prowl was family.

And no one messed with what was his.

* * *

**Author's Note:** To avoid confusion, I'm adding an additional disclaimer here at the end.

The final section is meant to imply that, even if they aren't terribly fond of one another at the moment and will likely never see eye to eye on things, Barricade still views Prowl as his family. In that same vein, he's strongly of the opinion that any of his former colleagues that wants to start a fight with Prowl will have to deal with both of them. I'm like that with my own family, and I'm pretty sure there's other people who would do likewise.

More to come soon.


	10. Chapter Eight

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro; Meanstreak © yours truly.

**Reminder:** Please be aware that some - if not all - of these characters are not acting as their G1/movie counterparts for reasons that will be explained... eventually.

* * *

There had been a time, many vorns ago, that the concepts of betrayal, subterfuge, and sabotage would have been completely alien to him. If an experiment didn't turn out as expected, he would merely shrug it off then either start over again or turn his attention to a new project. He always looked at the world with an analytical optic, observing others and recording his theories into his memory banks, treating the whole of Cybertronian society as if they were his own private social experiment. It did not win him very many close companions, but he had been content in his own way.

When Megatron had begun to gather the Undesirables – mechs and femmes cast out of their cities or even family units for the 'imperfection' of possessing a military build – he had been honoured to be chosen as the Lord High Protector's scientific advisor and confidant, even if he was not given an official rank in the army that was slowly growing. In his new position, he could continue to run his experiments and was provided with a whole new class of Cybertronian to observe. He'd long been fascinated by military-builds, yet the only ones he'd had the opportunity to observe prior to that point were the few who managed to break away from their intended programming and graduate from the Science Academy; there was a subtle difference between those who had tried to become more than what their formatting demanded and those who embraced it, and he noted this in his memory banks as well.

As the war progressed, as the power struggle between the Iacon contingent and the newly-dubbed Decepticon army intensified, he realized that they did not truly know much about the All Spark. It was unnerving that they were so desperate to lay claim to the source of life – at first it was for the good of Cybertron and the betterment of their race, although the goal had twisted over the vorns to total domination – yet no one really understood it. It was for that purpose that he approached Megatron with the suggestion of sending a scientific exploration team to Polyhex, the site where the All Spark had rested until the beginning of the Golden Age when it was moved to Iacon, to see if there was anything left behind that may prove useful in finding it once more.

And what they had discovered....

Even now, Shockwave could remember that cycle clearly. He had been observing in his usual detached manner when the four had arrived in the Lord Protector's council room: Spanner, renown for his visionary ideas regarding interstellar exploration through technological advances; Heavy Load, a chemist whose experimental explosive compounds were helpful in advancing the Decepticon campaign; Skyfire, a physicist and xenobiologist who had lost his standing in Iacon due to being a military-build in spite of his brilliance; and Flamewar, one of the few fembots in the Decepticon army and, as truly befitted a military-build from Kaon, the master of many trades. For their own reasons, each had chosen to follow Megatron, and when selected for this mission they accepted eagerly.

As scientific advisor, he had desperately wanted to join the exploration team, but Megatron had deemed it more important that Shockwave remain at Kaon on the off-chance that his expertise would be needed. Two others that he had initially suggested had also been rejected for the mission, although the advisor could understand his leader's reasoning at the time; Soundwave was the central stabilizing force for the Cassetticon drones that they used for infiltration and sabotage, while Starscream had recently been elevated to the rank of air commander and was needed to keep the aerial elite in top form.

Spanner had done most of the talking, his team adding input when needed, all of them sounding equal parts fascinated and distressed by their discovery. Data files, some old enough to possibly be from the days when the first Cybertronians walked the world, indicated that many of the old legends they had heard as recharge stories in their sparkling days were possibly true accounts. The ones that spoke of the All Spark mentioned it not as _the_ source of life, but as _a_ source of life, a tool to aide in the creation of new life.

It was the ones mentioning the first Prime and Lord High Protector that stuck in his memory banks. Two beings mentioned not as the first creations of the All Spark, not as the first members of their race, but as something more. Something much more powerful that he had thought could be possible, and the scientist in him wanted to examine those data files more closely and confirm what the exploration team was saying.

Megatron had been quiet during the debriefing, looking to be thoughtful and ill at ease while each scientist shared his or her findings. Shockwave deleted any thoughts of looking over the data files when, once it was confirmed that none of the four had shared their findings with others, the Lord Protector ruthlessly terminated the entire team. The dark-coloured mech had readily agreed to keep the findings quiet, although part of him lamented the loss of such a discovery.

Although he disposed of the bodies as commanded, Shockwave had downloaded copies of all the data files before destroying them as well. He was first and foremost a scientist, and he wanted to preserve that information which the deactivated explorers had brought back with them even if he would never reveal it.

At first, he had been able to continue on as he always had, observing the other Decepticons with his usual state of detached fascination, but paranoia and distrust began to seep in slowly with a single uncharacteristic action on the part of one mech.

Three orns after the exploration team had returned and been disposed of, he had found himself watching the aerial squadron going through their drills. It was all boringly routine, yet Shockwave never failed to find a mathematical beauty to the maneuvers the flyers executed. There were five trines in total at that point as well as a few individual fighters, and one of the Seekers – he thought it may have been Dirge – was remarking on the continued absence of the exploration team. Rumours had begun circulating on the second orn after they had been due to return, most believing that the scientists had been captured by the Iacon contingent.

"Skyfire's one of us, scientist or not," Dirge was insisting to his trine mates. The blue-black Seeker turned towards his air commander and added, "You've known him for practically forever, Starscream. Have you heard anything from him since his team left on their mission?"

"The last contact I had with Skyfire was shortly before they shipped out," was the reply; normally Shockwave would have accepted the answer at face value, but he had noted an abnormality with the delivery of the Seeker's answer.

For a fraction of an astrosecond, Starscream had hesitated.

In all the time Shockwave had silently observed the air commander, from the days when they'd both been in the Science Academy through their early involvement in the Decepticon army, Starscream had always answered quickly and without hesitation. If he was uncertain of an answer, he would say so and request a moment to check through his memory banks. Even with Megatron, he would speak immediately when questioned no matter what the response may be.

Hesitation, even for so brief a moment, was jarring.

And for the first time, a suspicious voice spoke up in the back of Shockwave's processor: _He knows something._

The paranoid certainty that somehow, some way, Starscream had been in contact with his old friend before the exploration team met with the Lord Protector steadily grew. Shockwave began watching the Seeker a little more closely, trying to see who he interacted with and who else might _know_. The list grew quickly, and the science advisor began to form other suspicions regarding those who were close to Starscream.

When Soundwave grew more vocal in his defense of the Seeker whenever concerns on where his loyalties lie came up, Shockwave had felt the overwhelming desire to silence the mech. Since deactivating their communications officer was out of the question – and Lord Megatron would be furious if he had to locate a new third in command – he had merely crushed the other's vocalizer; Soundwave didn't need to speak in order to manipulate radio signals, and there were internal communications arrays that he could use if he really needed to interact with individuals.

When the fembot scout, Meanstreak, began to slip away from base for joors on end only to report to Starscream on return, he suspected that she _knew_ as well. It didn't matter that she had had connections to the Seeker prior to the war, nor did it matter that she also spent a great deal of her time with Skywarp – that mech was, after all, Starscream's trine mate and likely a conspirator as well. He couldn't silence her as effectively as his previous victim since she was needed on the battle field, so he manipulated her vocalizer carefully so that she could only shout or whisper; a scout should be silent when patrolling, after all, yet still be able to warn her comrades of incoming dangers during a fight.

There were others he suspected – the scout that had come out of Praxus and Starscream's second trine mate specifically – but he had no proof that they were traitors to the cause, no proof that they knew the secret that burned in his processors and was slowly driving him to madness. All he could do was watch them, waiting, growing more uneasy about them as time passed. Shockwave held his glossa for the most part, telling his concerns only to Megatron who waved them off as unimportant. And after his Lord had left in pursuit of the All Spark, he had kept his silence during Starscream's reign as supreme commander.

But he quickly took command once the Seeker left with an advance team, one of whom was the Praxian scout he remained suspicious of. Shockwave continued to observe, noting that those left behind – Soundwave, Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Meanstreak – had formed a small faction of their own. He observed as much as he was able while leading the Decepticons in their journey through space, growing more suspicious as he listened to the inflections that peppered their speech:

_Thank Primus that's over._

_Unicron drag me to the pit!_

_You can't take that to the Oracle!_

_Did the Unmaker himself teach you that trick?_

It wasn't as if other Decepticons never used such phrases, yet the _way_ these four used them was different. Shockwave was positive that the secret he'd kept locked away was known by them, that Skyfire had lied when he said that he'd told no one other than Megatron himself.

Now, as the few Constructicons currently on board the Nemesis worked feverishly to repair the sensor arrays, Shockwave knew that his actions until now had been all for naught. There was only one way left to ensure that the last great secret of Cybertron and the All Spark was kept a secret.

And he was going to take great pleasure in killing Starscream. Perhaps he'd even destroy the mech's family unit first, just to make the moment that much sweeter.

* * *

Red Alert was, to be honest, uneasy about simply letting twelve ex-Decepticons roam the base unaccompanied, but orders were orders; Optimus Prime wanted them to feel comfortable in their decision to leave the Decepticon army and aid the Autobots, and insisted that granting them the freedoms available to their own soldiers would be a gesture of good will.

"Did he take a ricocheted shot to the head during a practice drill, or is temporary insanity a necessity to be a commanding officer?"

_At least Reggie agrees with my assessment,_ the security officer thought to himself with a wry smile.

When he'd first arrived, Ironhide and Bumblebee had warned him about the government liaison, proclaiming him to be jumpy and nervous even by human standards. They'd also been under the impression that the human's behaviour would do little more than perpetuate the small glitch in Red Alert's processor that – on occasion – made him see threats that didn't really exist. Sometimes that glitch was a major pain in the aft, but the security grids and networks he had designed during some of his fits had kept them from being deactivated more times than he could count.

So he was the only one _not_ surprised to find that Reggie Simmons was very much a kindred spirit, as the humans would say. Simmons seemed to believe that a little healthy paranoia was a good way to stay alive, and Red Alert figured that if something didn't make the human dissolve into fits about base security then things must be going well.

"If he did then Ratchet must've patched him up on the spot," the Eclipse huffed, keeping an optic on the monitors currently displaying the rec room. Barricade had returned to base not long ago (and that was another thing that nearly had his circuits fritzing, the fact that the Cons could come and go as they pleased. If Prime's next allowance granted the Seekers leave to practice their aerial maneuvers, he was going to drag their leader to Ratchet himself and insist that the medic run a full virus scan STAT) and was currently engaged in a conversation with Sunstreaker. The twins were bad enough on their own; he could only dread the chaos that would be wrought by _this_ unholy union.

Another monitor displayed three more of the defectors, Thundercracker silently reading a data pad while Skywarp and Meanstreak stretched out together speaking quietly. Although also in the rec room, they seemed content to allow their teammate to fraternize with the Autobot twins. A moment later Jazz joined them, the fembot moving her pedes to allow her brother to sit at the opposite end of the berth and curl up closer to the Seeker. The scene was surprisingly domestic, not a term normally associated with Decepticons but one that seemed to fit these three in particular.

"I've still got the President on my back," Simmons said, shaking his head at the monitor. "He wants a report on all their activities from the minute they arrived on base last night. Somehow, I doubt he'll be happy to receive a file consisting of _the female helped bring one of the good guys back from the dead, one of the planes is cuddly with her, one of the planes likes reading, the bad cop doesn't like the good cop, and the last plane, the news van, and the eight-piece micro machine collective keep hiding from the medic._"

Red Alert snorted at the description. The last part was far too true; Soundwave had somehow overridden the locking codes to the room he was sharing with his bondmate and younglings, and the eight Cybertronians were currently deep in recharge. A part of him was amused to look up at the monitor and see the younger members of the family unit sprawled about the room while their caregivers were curled around one another in a manner that remained somehow wary in spite of them being in a secure location. At the same time, it was horrifying to know, _really_ know, that one pair had managed to protect their younglings at the cost of ever feeling safe again.

"You could always make something up," Red offered. "Say that they're locked up in the brig, surviving on low-quality motor oil, and will be questioned in depth at a later time."

"And then I'll get a memo regarding the proper treatment of prisoners seeking political asylum," the agent promptly replied, smiling faintly. "No thanks. I'll wait until there's something _to_ tell him."

"Good idea. Until then, though, you up to doing a test run on the new security grids? I think I have everything calibrated properly, but you know how to break more firewalls than I do."

At the eager glint in Simmons' eyes, the mech couldn't help but smirk and wonder if the twins even understood one another quite so well as he did his friend.

* * *

Wheeljack glanced up from his work at the sound of the door sliding open, frowning behind his mask when Starscream stepped inside. The last he'd seen any of the Decepticons was shortly after Ratchet had kicked Skywarp out of the repair bay, and nearly a day had gone by since then. The engineer could think of no reason for the jetformer to seek him out, and it always bothered him a little when anyone came into his lab unannounced.

Although to give the Seeker credit, he wasn't picking up random flasks to see what was inside of them; in fact, the most he did was give them a passing glance while scanning the room. Wheeljack could afford to step away from his CR chamber project for a few breems for a visitor that knew how to conduct himself in a laboratory setting.

"Starscream," he greeted politely, setting aside his tools and moving towards the table the jetformer had stopped by. "What brings you out here?"

Starscream tapped his claws on the table for a moment. "Curiosity, mostly," was the reply. "I managed to talk Wave into getting his vocalizer examined, and Ravage is keeping an optic on his siblings. It's been a very long time since I've seen a working lab set-up."

Wheeljack frowned again for a moment before he pulled up a memory file from long before the war began. "That's right. You graduated from the Science Academy a few vorns before things started going to the pit. I can't remember what you specialized in, I have to admit."

"Xenobiology. Not surprising that you'd forgotten," the Seeker remarked. "Mechs like me only curried favour for a brief time, and it's difficult to practice much when you're restricted from leaving the planet. The last time there was an opportunity for something remotely in my field, my former partner was selected instead." Starscream fell silent, an air of sorrow and loss seeming to come over him for a moment before he turned to face Wheeljack again. "He managed to get his findings to me, and Soundwave, before he was deactivated."

The Explorer blinked his optics. "Was he killed on assignment?" he asked. He recalled hearing a rumour back before the All Spark was launched into space, originating from the Decepticon camps, regarding a small team of scientists that were lost on a mission for their leader. Most Cons seemed of the opinion that the Iacon contingent or sympathizers from one of the other wealthy cities was responsible for the loss of their scientists. Wheeljack had always assumed that the mission had been tantamount to suicide.

Starscream shook his head as he moved towards a computer console and opened a port on his arm. "He was murdered," he said simply, "to keep what they'd discovered a secret. Skyfire wanted to make sure that it would be kept safe should anything happen to him." The jetformer hooked himself to the console and began to download a copy of the data his friend had given him so long ago.

"There were stories that Megatron had killed some of his own men," Wheeljack remarked quietly, "but I thought that's all they were. Did he really...?"

"More than a few times," Starscream said. He stepped back from the console and gave the engineer a slight nod. "I figured that another mech of science would appreciate having a look at this before I share it with Prime. The information in those files is currently known only by those I brought with me and Shockwave. It's possible that he's found out I had these files and will come after me directly."

The Seeker nodded again and left the lab. Wheeljack stared after him for a moment before turning his attention to the files that had been left behind. His innate curiosity was piqued, and it only took a moment for him to begin sifting through the data.

And after he went through it all once, he went over it three more times to make sure that he wasn't mistaken about what it was the Decepticon explorers had given their lives to find.

**Wheeljack to Ratchet,** he finally called over a private comm link. **When you get a chance, stop by my lab. Starscream left me some information you really want to see.

* * *

Note:** Did anyone catch one of my major reveals? If not, it'll definitely be a big mention in the next chapter. Also, Shockwave and company are going to start working their way back in. I almost feel bad for driving him to the brink of insanity... almost.


	11. Chapter Nine

**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro; Meanstreak © yours truly.

**Reminder:** Please be aware that some - if not all - of these characters are not acting as their G1/movie counterparts for reasons that will be explained... eventually.

* * *

"We've got to stop meeting like this," Sideswipe remarked casually to his twin; Sunstreaker gave him a look that clearly stated that he couldn't believe his brother had just made such a lousy pun before turning to face the front of the room again. The red twin snickered to himself and did the same.

Unlike the last full-base meeting, this time everyone – human, Autobot, and Decepticon – was present. Most of the Bots, save for Wheeljack and Ratchet, were on one side of the room while the Cons minus Starscream and Soundwave were on the other. Barricade, who had been with the Lamborghinis in a training session earlier, had joined his fellow defectors the moment he'd spotted Prowl and was currently engaged in a conversation with Thundercracker.

Midway between the two main clusters of Cybertronians, their human allies had made themselves comfortable on the sofas that had been provided for the base staff. The three teenagers were settled at one end, Sam and Mikaela next to one another with Miles seated on the floor leaning against the arm and talking amongst themselves; Bumblebee and Arcee had shifted closer to them yet didn't join in the conversation. At the other end were Simmons, laptop out and working on a report for his superiors, and Will Lennox. Ironhide had been off-base acting as the Lennox family truck when the meeting was called, and Will had come along out of curiosity.

Wheeljack, Ratchet, Starscream, and Soundwave were standing together, apparently having a private conversation of their own via internal comm link, as not a one of them made a sound but their faces expressed the seriousness of their discussion. The engineer had been the one to contact Optimus and tell him that they needed to have an urgent, all personnel meeting as soon as possible. Whatever the reason, it was glaringly obvious that the four mechs at the front of the room knew exactly what was going on and were trying to decide how to go about sharing their information.

"The natives are getting restless, guys," Skywarp remarked loudly from his post by the wall, arms wrapped around Meanstreak as he leaned against her. The fembot didn't seem to care about the fact that her taller friend was using her as a prop although she did elbow him in the midsection for his lack of tact.

"One minute, Warp," Starscream replied distractedly, optics unfocused as most of his attention remained on his internal communications array. After another few minutes, the quartet drifted apart from one another but remained an obvious collective. "Sorry about the hold-up."

"It isn't a problem," Optimus said, nodding slightly. "I'm going to guess that you've decided to share some of the information you brought with you?"

It wasn't unnoticed that every single one of the Decepticons, from the Seekers to the Cassetticons, tensed slightly at his words and shot a searching look towards their two leaders. Soundwave gave a short nod, and the defectors relaxed slightly although they remained alert. It seemed as if they were preparing to add their own input if the need arose.

Starscream gave a nod of his own. "Granted, it isn't information that most Decepticons are even aware of. It was discovered by a small team of scientists, sent out on a fact-finding mission for information on the All Spark."

"We've all heard the rumour regarding that team," Wheeljack added. "Back before the destruction of Vos, there was a story going around that a Decepticon exploration team went missing. They were last noted as being in Polyhex."

"They weren't lost, though," Starscream picked up the narrative again. "They returned with data that had been lost since the earliest days of Cybertron's existence. Historical accounts regarding the All Spark, the First Prime, and the First Lord High Protector.

"It... wasn't what Megatron expected." The Seeker paused for a moment, his bondmate resting a hand on his wing in silent comfort. His intakes hitched before he continued. "My oldest friend was a member of that team. I was originally supposed to be part of it as well, but I'd just been promoted to air commander. Even so, Skyfire—" a few of the older Autobots recognized the name yet had been unaware that the noted physicist was one of the lost explorers "—came to our home upon returning to show us what he'd found. Typical Sky; he could never resist sharing his findings with like-minded individuals."

"Laserbeak: sent to observe," Soundwave added; Ratchet had done his best to repair the damage he'd found, but Shockwave had been thorough in his destruction of the delicate wiring and circuitry. The low-quality, mechanical monotone of Soundwave's voice was jarring to those amongst the Cybertronians who could remember when the faint melodic undertones were the main thing one noticed when the communications expert spoke. "Remained unnoticed. Returned distraught."

The van gave a frustrated huff of his vents, showing his emotions in a way his vocalizer was no longer capable of doing. "Skyfire, Spanner, Heavy Load, Flamewar: murdered."

Jazz gave a low whistle. "You mean to tell me that Megatron took out four of his own soldiers, all top scientists, because he didn't like what they had to tell him 'bout the All Spark?" the Solstice asked, shooting a look towards his sister; the Mustang nodded slightly and rested her clawed hands on Skywarp's arm. "Somehow I get the feeling that Skyfall and Beta's story was mixed in with the data y'all are saying was brought back."

"Affirmative," Soundwave replied, one hand moving to tap against his throat. He'd been instructed not to speak too much at first, but he couldn't allow his bonded to be the one doing all the talking. _::I don't know how much more I can say before Ratchet orders me to be silent,::_ he whispered along the bond.

_::Don't worry about it, Wave,::_ Starscream replied, stroking his mate's arm lightly. He continued aloud, "I've shown a copy of the data files that Skyfire left with me to Wheeljack; he shared it with Ratchet. They can vouch for everything I'm about to tell you.

"We all know the story: _In the beginning, there was the Cube._ Except in the beginning, the Cube, the All Spark, didn't yet exist. In the beginning, there was Order, and there was Chaos. Order and Chaos were brothers, traveling together through space.

"The brothers soon decided that they wanted to have a people to watch over," Starscream continued. "They created a world, both adding their own touches to it, and called it Cybertron. And on this world they'd created, they made a race similar to themselves; however, rather than two separate races based on each brother's aspects, they made them beings of both Order and Chaos."

"This sounds a lot like a creation myth," Mikaela piped up. "We were studying them in English last term, remember?" she added with a glance at Sam and Miles, who both nodded. "They all talk about gods or some other all-powerful beings creating the world and its people. I didn't know it was a universal concept...."

"They say that all myths have a basis in fact," Simmons remarked, having long abandoned his report in order to pay attention to the mechs speaking. "There are some people who think that the human race was developed by aliens for some obscure reason."

"Why would aliens wanna build people?" Sideswipe asked with a frown.

Ratchet heaved a sigh through his vents and shot the Lamborghini a harsh look. "If we could back to the subject at hand, people," he said pointedly, almost seeming to dare someone to interrupt one more time.

Wheeljack took up the story at this point, giving Starscream a moment to assure himself that his mate's vocalizer was holding up: "Order and Chaos weren't sure how to tell the first Cybertronians how to give life to their own creations, though. Order felt that an internal means of spark generation left too much up to chance, while Chaos felt that an external method was too artificial. So, they chose to walk amongst their people to see how the average Cybertronian acted and make their decision based on that."

"After walking the world for a time," Ratchet said as he took over the narrative, "they decided to use both methods. Chaos examined the sparks of the Cybertronians, choosing the ones that were strongest and made them capable of supporting a young spark until it could be transplanted into a new creation. For those not able to support a young spark, he allowed for them to be able to merge with those that were to help create the new sparks. Order, however, created an object that could generate new sparks without Cybertronians needing to merge. Either of the two methods could be used, and the brothers left it up to their people to decide which they preferred."

"And so it was," Starscream concluded quietly, "that Primus and Unicron gave our world the All Spark."

Prowl was the first to snap out of his stunned silence. "That makes no sense," he said, almost feeling his logic circuits beginning to lock up as he tried to process what he'd just heard. "Granted, it doesn't make much more sense than the All Spark as the source for all life, but we've seen that at work."

"Saying that the First Prime and Lord High Protector were the creators of our race _is_ a little far-fetched, you have to admit," Red Alert remarked quietly, although he seemed to be having an easier time accepting the possibility than the second-in-command.

"As crazy as it sounds, the data files are legitimate," Ratchet said. "The originals were likely destroyed shortly after Megatron killed the exploration team, but the copies Skyfire made were unaltered in any way. The files that Wheeljack and I have match in every way to Starscream and Soundwave's copies."

"The primary data file, the one that references all the others and ties the recharge stories we all heard as sparklings together, is designated 'the Covenant of Primus,'" Thundercracker added from his post beside his youngest wing mate. "You Autobots likely don't understand it, but Seeker trines form a variation of the familial bond; it ensures that we can act immediately when a situation changes without having to open up a comm channel. I stumbled across the files myself shortly after being promoted to Screamer's trine and asked him about them."

"The only reason that so many of us knew of the files was due to various bonds," Starscream said. "TC through the trine bond, Warp and Mean through the surrogate-caretaker bond they share with me."

"Barricade: inquired of Meanstreak," Soundwave interjected. "He was only told after confirmation that he could be trusted."

"Decepticons have a concept of trust?" Arcee asked, optics flickering as she 'blinked' in confusion. "Forgive me if that sounds rude, but—"

"Most Cons don't even trust _themselves_," Barricade snorted. "Those are the ones who can't even remember what the cause was at the beginning of this slagging war. The six of us, though...." He shook his head slightly, adding with a low growl, "The rest would rather conquer worlds now than just be treated like everyone else."

"What caused the war?" Sam suddenly asked. He looked a bit nervous when all optics turned his way. "I mean, you told me that Megatron wanted the All Spark, and it sounds a lot like he lost sight of his goals from what these guys—" he gestured towards the assembled Decepticons in their midst "—say, but none of us from this planet have a clue what started it all."

Ironhide heaved a sigh, remembering clearly the events leading to the beginning of the conflict. "It started off a lot like wars on your world tend to. A social problem that no one could agree on how to deal with."

Soundwave nodded. "Short answer: political differences."

* * *

Several hours and a few minor arguments later, and Prowl was no closer to wrapping his processor around the new information that the defectors had shared. He liked to believe that he was able to find the logic in every situation, but this was the second time in his long life that he found himself at a loss for an explanation.

The first time was when Barricade had announced that he was joining the anti-senate resistance movement in Kaon.

His initial thought at that time had been, _where did I go wrong?_ The tactician hadn't found it easy to raise a sparkling on his own, and it had gotten more difficult when said sparkling reached the youngling stage and wanted to argue with every one of his caregiver's rules, but Prowl had always felt that he'd been successful in teaching his youngling right from wrong. When Barricade had said that the senate was wrong and that the military-builds should be treated like any other Cybertronian, he felt that he had failed.

Only now, however, with four military-build ex-Decepticons in their midst, two of whom were a bonded pair and graduates of the prestigious Science Academy, Prowl found himself wondering if he may have been wrong. He still felt that the military-built Cybertronians were different, but that was mostly because he had never met a Kaonite that strived to be anything more than a sentry or a grunt. A few that had broken that mold really didn't change his opinion, but....

Until the war began, he had never fired a weapon. Now he probably had as much energon on his hands as any military-build during the Golden Age. And even if it bothered him that his former youngling – and when he'd left, Barricade had still been just that, a youngling – had spent a huge portion of his life as little more than an assassin and spy, from the way he'd spoken during the meeting it was clear that Prowl's lessons hadn't been ignored or forgotten.

Barricade had made his own decision based on what _he_ felt was right, not what his caregiver felt was right.

And in some odd way, the tactician was proud of that.

"You're brooding."

Prowl glanced up at the larger mech, quirking a brow ridge. "I am not," he said evenly. "I'm just thinking."

Ironhide snorted. "Like I said. Brooding." The Topkick nodded his head towards the other end of the hall, and Prowl curiously followed his gaze. From where they were, the rec room was easily seen, and the Lamborghini twins appeared to be engaged in some sort of drinking contest with the Decepticon Mustangs. From the looks of things, Barricade and Meanstreak were winning, unless Sideswipe had intentionally slipped off his chair and onto the floor.

"Looks like all the kids are getting along," Ironhide remarked casually, grinning a bit at Prowl's disapproving look. "It's not like we can tell 'em to stop, really. They're all adults."

"Adults who should know better," the second-in-command muttered. "If there was an attack on the base—"

"There would still be a dozen of us ready for action," the weapons expert finished. "Not to mention that two of that number have six younglings and two surrogates to protect as well. Look," he added, "I know that it ain't easy to watch someone you raised from a sparkling acting like a soldier. Don't forget that Chromia and I practically raised Bee."

"Bumblebee was already an adult when all this started," Prowl said, rubbing at his optics. "Barricade should've been shuttled to Vos instead of upgrading. He was still ten vorns out."

"And if he'd have been in Vos, you would've lost him anyway," Ironhide remarked. He didn't mean for it to sound cruel, merely stating the facts that all of them knew. "In the end, it's better that he made a choice that allowed him to survive, even if it wasn't the choice you'd have wanted him to make."

Prowl turned away, letting his optics drift over to the rec room's door again. By this point Sunstreaker was trying to haul his offline and overcharged twin from the floor while Meanstreak had wandered over to curl up with Skywarp once again. Barricade was leaning back in his own chair, hands locked behind his head and wearing an expression of amusement at the Lamborghini's plight.

For a moment, the tactician could understand Starscream and Soundwave's reasoning in reformatting their own younglings as they had. If he was right in his calculations, Ravage was now about the same age Barricade had been when the hostilities began, and Ratbat probably had only been a quarter vorn at most out of the sparkling stage. None of them had been mature enough to upgrade to an adult protoform.

But Barricade had been advanced for his age thanks to his caregiver's lessons, and obviously the upgrade hadn't done him any harm.

The tactician gave his friend a nod and pushed off the wall, heading away from the rec room and moving towards the security center. Red Alert could probably use a break right about now, and Prowl needed to be somewhere away from the other residents in order to gather his thoughts.

He didn't see Barricade look out of the rec room to watch him go, but Ironhide did. The Topkick grinned slightly to himself; it seemed that the second-in-command wasn't the only police cruiser thinking about making amends.

* * *

"_Scrapper to Nemesis. Come in."_

The triple-changer on comm duty nearly jumped at the sudden message. "Nemesis to Scrapper. This is Blitzwing. What's your ETA?"

"_Approximately two joors, give or take a breem,"_ the Constructicon leader reported._ "Long Haul's with me. We the last to the party?"_

"No, the Combaticons are still en route."

"_How're my brothers?"_

Blitzwing winced. Absently wondering how he always wound up being the bearer of bad news, he reported on the remaining Constructicons first. "Hook and Scavenger have been knocking themselves out fixing the slagging sensor array. A bunch of mechs defected and knocked 'em offline in the process."

Scrapper laughed. _"Bet Starscream was fragged off."_

"Starscream was one of the defectors."

"_Ouch. What about the others?"_

"Mixmaster is still a few joors out himself." The triple-changer paused for a moment, trying to come up with some way to soften the blow and deciding to just say it. "Bonecrusher was lost planet side."

There was a long pause as the information was apparently processed. _"Then it looks like my brothers and I are going to have to take that outta the enemies' hides,"_ the Constructicon finally said, voice even and cold.

Blitzwing smirked slowly. The Constructicons might be one mech down and unable to access the strongest weapon in their arsenal, but they were still a deadly force to be reckoned with. "We'll be awaiting your arrival. Blitzwing out." He cut off the comm link and opened one to Shockwave. "Scrapper, Long Haul, and Mixmaster will be arriving within the next three stellar cycles, sir."

Even if the traitors warned Prime's forces of their presence, there was no way they'd have enough firepower to take down the Constructicons. This war was as good as over, and the little mudball of a world would soon be the first conquest of the Decepticon empire.

* * *

**Note:** Yes, the reason the defectors act in the manner they do is because they follow the Covenant's writings; that, and they still feel that all Cybertronians deserve fair treatment. As for the remaining Decepticons, let's just say that they ain't happy at the moment.

And, Prowl and Barricade will discuss their issues, but that won't happen until... later.


End file.
